Azure Halloween
by The Realm Walker
Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention, Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander. R&R, please! Chapter 1 functions as a standalone fic, WIP. Chapter 11, sorry for the wait!
1. Chapter 1 Halloween

****

Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

Special thanks to VladimirsAngel, who took time to beta this chapter (sidenote: If you like the _Legacy of Kain_ series and have a sense of humor, go read her fics. You won't regret it)

Chapter 1- Halloween

"Ah, Halloween" Xander sighed, "the magic night of chocolate and sugar high. Brings back memories of the former manic twitching nights." He snorted to himself. "'Course, being forced into babysitting a bunch of kids by Snyder kinda takes the best out of it."

"Yeah, kinda." Willow sighed before perking up. "Hey, at least we get to dress up!"

"I kinda like Halloween" Buffy said. "What with all the joys of weird, wild and wonderful, at least for a night" She grinned at Willow and Xander. "What's this place like then?"

Willow shrugged. "It's Ethan's Costume Shop. It's new, but they've got a good variety."

Willow and Buffy entered the store, Xander lagging behind, deep in thought. He already had most of his costume, a set of old military fatigues, at home. He just needed a toy gun of some sort to complete the costume. _Just call me the two-dollar Costume King._

Xander raised an eyebrow at Buffy gushing over a frilly 18th century noblewoman's dress. _What's the point in dressing up as something that uncomfortable just for babysitting?_

Somehow his mind brought up an image of Buffy dressed up as Xena in tight leather armor and he had to pause to get his hormones under control. _Gotta hand it to her, they'd be perfect, but anyway.._

Xander shook his head and looked around for a toy assault rifle. There were none in immediate sight so he delved a little further into the shop. Behind all the racks of costumes there was a high shelf filled with boxes and miscellaneous costume pieces.. one of which was a good plastic replica of an M-60 assault rifle. _Bingo!_

Xander picked the toy gun up and checked the price tag- it was cheap, for just two and a half dollars. Satisfied, he turned around and took a step towards the front of the store.. and stopped when he heard a low creaking sound from behind him. He turned around just to see the shelf slowly but surely toppling towards him.

__

Ohh boy.

"Gyaarrhh!"

****

CRASH! 

----

"Unnhhh.. That didn't feel good." Somehow, Xander had managed to avoid the toppling shelf with barely three inches of empty space between the shelves and his right foot, although he had landed on his back. Lucky for him a pile of costumes had softened his fall. Slowly he tried moving his feet and his hands. Nothing seemed to be broken. He turned his head to the right and paled. Right next to him, barely half an inch from his face, something deep metallic black with nasty-looking silver-colored spikes had nearly imbedded itself to the floor.

"Oh my God! Are you OK, kid?"

Xander blinked and looked back up. A short man with dark and slightly balding hair had leaned over him, glancing continuously between Xander and the fallen shelves.

Xander groaned and picked himself up, gingerly rolling his shoulders and wincing when something popped. "I.. I think so."

The man looked straight at Xander with a worried expression. "I'm so sorry, I told the moving people that shelf should've been secured properly, but now look!"

The shelves had crushed several racks of costumes under them when they had fallen, paraphelia from several costumes scattered all over the floor. Shreds of torn cloth littered the floor where a shattered rack had shredded at least five different and _expensive _costumes.

"Uh.. this isn't going to cost _me_, is it?"

The man blinked and then gave a sigh. "No, of course not.. It wasn't your fault, that shelf wasn't too stable to begin with. Anyway.." He perked up, "I'm Ethan Rayne, owner of this establishment and, incidentally, of that shelf that nearly flattened you. Can I help you with something?"

Xander nodded and looked around, spotting the handle of the rifle he had found. "Yeah, I'd like to.. oh no." He had tried to pick the rifle up just to notice a heavy box had fallen on it and snapped it cleanly to three different pieces. "Uh, I needed a gun for my soldier costume. You wouldn't happen to have a second one?"

Ethan frowned and hissed. "I don't think so. That was the last one."

Xander looked crestfallen.

"Anyway, everyone and their dog is dressing up as soldiers this Halloween, you know." Ethan said. "Maybe you'd like to dress up as something slightly more inventive?"

Xander frowned. "Sure I would, but I've only got five bucks."

Ethan grinned. "I don't think that's going to be a problem. Just look around for whatever you'd like and I'll see if I could give you a discount of some type. You _did_ nearly get flattened, after all."

Xander grinned back at him. "Thanks, Ethan." He took a step towards the front end of the store and his leg brushed against something. He looked down and saw whatever had nearly hit his head in the rustle. Xander whistled and picked it up. It was a heavy jet black spiked mace replica with the long spikes and other details colored shiny metallic silver. The round ball end was about as large as both or his fists put together and the thorns were at least two inches long. It was made of plastic but weighed so it could be swung around comfortably. For some odd reason it felt good holding the handle wrapped with silver and black leather strips in his hands, feeling its comforting weight. His eyes were drawn to the near-metallic dull sheen of the completely smooth orb.

"Hey Ethan.. you wouldn't happen to remember which costume belonged to?"

Ethan frowned, looking the mace over before gesturing towards the fallen shelf. "It's a part of a fantasy costume, some kind of mercenary if my memory serves me correct. It should've been on top of that shelf in a box, so the rest can't be far.."

----

After a moment of searching through the stuff on the floor Xander found an open box with black and silver decorations. Inside there was a bundle of black leather and a piece of paper.

"That should be the description of the costume" Ethan said. "Check if the mace matches it."

Xander unfolded the paper and saw the costume parts list include 'Black/Silver mace, 1 piece'.

"This is it." He read on until he got to the actual description.

__

Skye

Height: 182 cm/ 6'1"

Weight: 85 kg/ 170 lbs.

Hair: Black

Eyes: Gold

Class: Fighter

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Description: A mysterious dark warrior, not much is known of him. He is fiercely protective of those around him and has little use for rules or restrictions. He dresses in a black suit of leather armor, carrying with him a magical spiked mace he calls the Stormhammer, a formidable weapon in its own right and lethal when wielded by somebody as strong as him. No-one but himself knows where he hails from. A calm, mostly serious if occasionally sarcastic and smart-mouthed vigilante, his hatred of the undead and outlaws is legendary.

Xander flipped the paper around and saw a picture of a man in a black and silver leather armor leaning against a stone wall, the silver and black mace slung across his shoulder. His hair was black, short and stood up in a military-style hairdo except for a short braid that snaked down his shoulder. His eyes were an odd shade of metallic golden yellow. He had raised his left eyebrow as if giving the photographer a half-curious, half-sarcastic look that made Xander grin. Below the picture was a series of instructions how the costume should be worn. _Let's see.. Quippy attitude- check, hair color-check, general size- close enough.. I like it._

"How much is this one?"

Ethan looked at the price tag and frowned. "Normally this would cost you fifty dollars, but now.. How much did you say you had? $5?"

Xander nodded.

"What do you say I rent this for the night for five dollars and you can show up tomorrow and buy it for twenty if you like it?"

Xander grinned. "Deal."

Ethan watched Xander leave the store, the box for the costume under his arm, and grinned. "Chaotic, eh? Janus will be pleased…" It was nearly time for the ritual. First he would have to clean up, though. Tomorrow he'd think of a suitably nasty curse for the idiot who had put up the shelf.

----

Back at home Xander put on a set of golden contact lenses, finishing the costume, and grinned at his reflection. His hair was the right color, near coal-black, already, so all he'd had to do was to cut it a little and it was nearly perfect. A pair of thin black rubber bands kept the fake braided ponytail that reached about to between his shoulderblades securely in place. He was wearing a pair of black leather trousers that were decorated with silvery thread and various metallic rivets, a set of sturdy leather boots with plates of silver-colored metal strengthening the toes and a kind of thick vest of hardened leather, colored black with silver linings that was slightly open at the bottom, leaving his midriff slightly bared. It had taken him a while but he had figured out a way to attach a kind of clip system with leather straps to his back and now the spiked mace- Stormhammer- was slung across his back, set so that he could actually sit down without the spikes catching onto anything. There had been a pair of metallic bracers- black and silver, of course- with the suit and he had wrapped a thick layer of medical binds he had nicked from the bathroom between his wrists and elbows to keep the cold metal from chafing. Lastly, he now had on his golden contacts and a silvery amulet shaped like a winged serpent of some kind with a tiny red fake gem for an eye hanging from a thin silvery chain around his neck.

Xander grinned again and flexed his arms, unused to the weight of the armguards, feeling how the thick, warm leather felt against his skin. His upper arms were bare and looked slightly pale against all the black clothing, but he liked the way this costume felt and looked.

----

Xander wasn't exactly expecting the sight that greeted him when Buffy opened her door for him. The long, frilly dress didn't look quite that silly on Buffy and he gaped for a second before performing a court bow. "Wow, Buff.. Duchess of Buffonia.. I swear off spandex forever."

Buffy smiled, dropping in a kind of a courtsey. "Why thank you, kind sir. Wait until you see what we got for Willow!"

There was the sound of a door opening and closing upstairs and Buffy pointed towards the stairs. "Meet Willow, the.. the.. friendly neighborhood ghost. Wil-low!"

Willow stood at the top of the stairs, covered in a large white sheet with a pair of holes for her eyes and the word 'Boo!' painted to the front with a red color.

"Hey Wills" Xander grinned. "Ah.. nice boo you got there."

"That isn't her costume" Buffy fumed, "C'mon Willow, you're _always _a ghost."

"But.. But I like this and Ireallydon'twanttowearacostumelikethatinpublicandthinkofeveryonewhocouldseeandwhat'sXanderwearing?"

Xander blinked twice and tried to translate from Willow-ese to English in his mind. _Stop..Rewind..Play, speed 25.. _"I'm Skye, mercenary and Undead hunter extraordinaire!" he said, reaching behind his shoulder and pulling out the fake mace with a flourish. Buffy stared at it. "Ooo.. Cool mace, Xander. Can I borrow that?"

Xander raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you were a gentle-lady, not Xena.. not that I'd be complaining, but.."

Buffy swatted him in the arm.

"Ow! Watch with the Slayer-strength, Buffs!"

----

"Spikey, Miss Edith says that everything's switching. Outside to inside." The insane vampiress Drusilla complained to Spike in a sing-song voice as he held her in arms. Her expression could be described as a vacant smile, but her eyes.. they were entirely empty of all thought and emotion, the living embodiment of the saying 'the lights are on but no-one is home'. "It makes the Slayer weak and my Kitten strong.", she purred.

"Really?" Spike asked interested. "Did my pet have a vision?"

"Do you know what I miss? Leeches." Dru said, going off subject. Spike frowned slightly at the insane vampire-Seeress.

"Come on, talk to Daddy." Spike said, shaking her. "This thing that makes the Slayer weak? When is it?"

"Tonight." Drusilla said.

"Tonight's Halloween." Spike said. "Nothing happens on Halloween."

"Someone's come to change it all." Dru assured. "But Miss Edith said don't go, Kitten will fight you."

"If it's my chance to bag me a Slayer, no little lapdog of the Slayer is going to stop me."

Drusilla pouted but said nothing.

----

Wandering around town trying to keep a group of pre-teen kids ambling for candy together wasn't anyone's idea of fun. Still, Willow grinned, it was kind of amusing. It was fun to watch the reactions of the kids to the candy and to see the adults step back in mock shock from a bunch of painted ten-year-olds in costumes that started off neat and then turned disarranged. At least if she couldn't have any fun of her own she could make sure the kids did.

She looked around and saw Xander giving hints and tips to his own group on how to get extra candy. Guessing from the glowing faces of the kids Xander had now his very own fan club. Willow had to admit, his costume looked way cool, what with all the 'dark, brooding hero'-routine. His eyes flashing gold, Xander looked up and grinned at Willow before leading the kids a little further down the street.

----

Ethan sat in front of a blood-covered statue of Janus, looking at the blood pooling at his hands with a dark expression. "I hate this part.. _Father Janus, the world that denies thee, thou inhabit."_

He drew a circle over his right eye with the blood from his left hand. _"The peace that ignores thee..."_

He drew a second circle over his left eye with his right hand. _"...thou corrupt."_

He drew a cross on his forehead with his left hand. _"Chaos. I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son."_

The blood symbols lit up with a mystical fire for a moment and somewhere in his mind he heard dark laughter echoing as a warm wind picked up, spreading Chaos over the city and activating the 'blessings' on his special costumes. "Showtime!"

----

Willow felt dizzy for a moment and when she came to, she was lying on the ground. She realized her ghost sheet had somehow gone missing and blushed intensely, picking herself up.

Something growled behind her.

She turned to see a goblin-like creature of some sort snarl at her and pounce. She yelped and closed her eyes only to feel a strange windlike sensation as the creature passed straight through her like she wasn't even there. A cacophony of snarls, growls and yelps sounded around her as the children who no longer looked like children either ran off or started to fight among each other.

"What's going on? Xander!"

Xander had frozen a little further away with an odd expression on his face. Suddenly the silvery decorations on his suit looked a lot more authentic and the thorns on his mace looked a lot sharper than moments ago. As Willow watched his golden eyes took a decidedly more wild look and his face turn into a mask of.. despair?

__

"Sher'auch'na!" He called out in a voice that was a lot deeper than it should have been. _"Serena, sher'auch'na, beloved, where are you?! Answer me, please!"_

----

A sudden wave of nausea washed over him and when he opened his eyes he was not where he had been moments before. Skye stood up and surveyed his surroundings swiftly, finding himself in a place he did not recognize. _What happened? Where are we?_

No answer came to his unvoiced question.

__

Serena?

Deathly silence answered him. Suddenly he had a cold feeling down his stomach.

__

Serena? Shar'rann?

There was no answer and he reached out with his mind, feeling through the unique bind of energy in his very soul. Cold sweat pooled on his forehead as he did not find the essence he was looking for.

__

Serena!

There was a cold, dead hole within him, Skye realized with a near physical pain. _She _should have been there but was not. A sense of indescribable, crushing _loss _washed over him. It felt like his arm or leg had been torn out but far, _far_ worse: something had torn out half his soul and his entire heart.

__

"Sher'auch'na!" Despair and pain made his voice unrecognizable. _"Serena, sher'auch'na, beloved, where are you?! Answer me, please!"_

The deathly silence without _her_ made him want to weep, to scream or roar but he could not find the strength to do so.

Something growled near him and he opened his eyes he didn't remember closing. Something not even four feet in height that resembled a troll snarled at him. Rage filled him, a blinding red-hot fury that made his vision swim and burn and as the creature dashed at him he snatched it up easily by the neck and hurled it away with a single massive swing. It flew in an arc that would have been graceful had the flier been any less ugly and landed in a large, thorny bush of some sort. It struggled for a moment, then picked itself up and bared rows of rotting yellow teeth, growling at him.

He bared his own teeth in an expression that would have sent a lich running in fear and let loose a deep, rumbling growl of his own. The creature yelped and fled, probably to look for something less dangerous -like an adult red dragon- to annoy.

"Xander!" Skye heard an unfamiliar voice from behind him. It seemed that much was happening behind his back these days. He turned around and saw a young, red-headed woman in a.. _revealing_ costume.

"Xander! There'ssomethinggoingonandweneedtofindBuffyandIcanwalkthroughstuffandohgod.."

Skye blinked once. She sounded suspiciously like he did after a pot.. or four.. of coffee.

"I beg your pardon, miss?"

She cut off her tirade, confused, and then gave him an irritated look. "Xander, knock it off, this is serious. We've got to find Buffy, there's.."

In any other situation he wouldn't have fallen as low as interrupt a lady in speech.. but this was not any other situation. "Miss, first off, I am _not _a Xander, whatever that may be. Second, my name is Skye, I am standing on a street in a town I have _never _seen before, my.. companion-" he couldn't help bot feel a sharp sting somewhere in his chest region- "has disappeared, I'm being attacked by three-foot-tall goblins of all things and I would like to know what by the Dragon Lord's horns is _going on in here!_"

There was an odd half-snarling, half-growling sound from behind him- _Serach'ai'a'Dachar, why can I not smell _anything?!- and he spun around and reached for the Stormhammer, gripping the handle that felt warm with energy to his hands and pulling it free with a swift yank. He saw a creature that resembled a werewolf- _or a lupine_, his inner voice nagged at him- and pulled his arm back, ready to hurl the mace in a massive swing..

"Xander NO! That's a _kid_ in there!"

__

A child?! He had already swung the Stormhammer forward and tried desperately to reach for the handle but couldn't get a good grip again, only managing to nudge the weapon. His fumbled attempt managed to alter its trajectory so that, luckily enough, the spiked crushing end didn't hit although the handle of the spinning weapon grazed the creature's furry temple. The blessed mace sailed through the air in a gracious arc that would've sent any Human athlete to a complete fit, spinning wildly with the air whistling between the spikes with a bone-chilling wail, and smashed into the side of a parked vehicle, shattering glass and punching in the metal side like tin foil.

Both the girl and the creature stared as the force of the collision actually shoved the vehicle a good ten feet away from them.

Skye looked at the creature, raising a single black eyebrow, and struck his gauntlets meaningfully together with a clash of metal against metal.

The creature took one good look at him, rubbing the side of its face, and turned tail with an indignant whine.

The girl looked at the now wrecked car, then at the retreating creature, and then at Skye with a dumbstruck expression. "Well.. _That _was new.."

His voice was _very _close to an irritated growl now. "Can you _now _tell me what is happening before something _larger _comes this way?"

She was looking at the heap of crushed metal again, but turned to face him. "Ok.. you look like Xander, but are definitely _not _him.. I'm Willow, like the tree, and I was watching over a group of kids.. Something's happened, I don't know what, one moment they-" she gestured towards the street corned where the creature had disappeared- "were children with costumes and the next the _were _the costumes… Oh God, that's it, everyone's _become _their costumes, I was a ghost and now I _am _one, I can walk through walls and stuff.." She prodded him in the chest only to have her entire hand pass through his flesh like a cheap illusion.

He raised an eyebrow and scanned her with a look, eliciting a blush on her insubstantial face. "The ghost of _who, _exactly?"

She was turning an interesting shade of red to match her hair and twisting her hands. "This is what I had _under _the costume.. never mind, look, we need to find Buffy, she's the Slayer.. a great warrior, she hunts down demons, she's short, blonde- no, wait, tonight she's a brunette- and she's wearing a really long dress.. and this is _way _too freaky for words."

Skye nodded and walked over the wreckage, spotting the familiar handle wedged between the seats within. He took a good grip with both hands and propped his left boot against the side. He turned and _pulled_ and with a loud wail of twisting and breaking metal the Stormhammer came free. He then proceeded to bash the mace repeatedly against a handy stone wall to clear off the debris that had snagged onto the spikes before clipping it against his back.

Willow stared at him. He spread his arms in an exasperated expression. "What?!"

----

They trekked through the town, Willow keeping an eye out for this 'Buffy' character and Skye 'dispatching' the creatures they came upon- 'dispatching' mostly meaning clobbering them over the head with an improvised club and dragging them off somewhere. They'd wake up with a headache but at least they _would_ wakeup.. hopefully. He could sense there was something wrong with this 'Sunnydale' place.. his less Human senses could feel a sense of foreboding, a shroud of darkness that enveloped the entire city. If he could feel it even in his current form, it had to be powerful enough to attract demonic forces from halfway across the globe. 'Sunnydale' indeed. For such a small town they sure had plenty of graveyards.

Speaking of strange, _he _felt somehow different as well. He was quite sure he had used to be taller and more muscular and his senses felt oddly.. _dulled _somehow. His normally acute eyesight was reduced to more normal levels, his hearing was sub-par and his sense of smell was practically nonexistent. Perhaps it was an aftereffect of losing.. _her.. _or something else but he hoped it was not permanent. A wave of impotent fury and pain washed over him at the mere thought of _her_ and he had to hold back a wince. Willow gave him an odd look.

"Are you all right, Xan.. Skye?"

He tried to keep his voice normal.. with heavy emphasis on the word _tried_. The result was a sound more than half a growl. He hated being fussed over, especially by people he didn't know. "I am _fine._"

Willow gave him a _look_ and he felt instantly ashamed. "Forgive me. It's just.. I was just minding my own business when everything goes dark and I find myself _here_" he made a vast gesture, "attacked by children-turned-demons with no memories of _how_ I ended up here, of _what _happened, I feel odd all over and.. and.. my _companion_ is not here. I'm just as fine as I can get under the circumstances."

Willow gave him a sympathetic look and opened her mouth to say something when a feminine shriek was heard nearby. Willow's eyes widened. "That sounded like Buffy!"

Skye frowned. _Wind, buildings, hedges, follow the echoes.. that way! _"Follow me!"

The first thing he saw was a young woman- he guessed she was not even twenty yet- in a intricate dress on her back on the ground, screaming and scampering away from something that made his senses go haywire. It looked like a human but its face was twisted with bony ridges on its forehead and its teeth had elongated into sharp fangs. He could feel a kind of darkness emitting from it that made every hair on his neck stand up. _Demon!_

"That's a vampire!"

Skye assumed that Willow meant that it was not one of the demon-children and thus a free target.

"_Cthol'Na! Shadowspawn!_ Fight someone your own size!"

The vampire turned to look at him and snarled, amber eyes much like his but still so different blazing. He drew the Stormhammer and felt it hum in his hands, resonating with his power. In a single fluid move he drew his arm back, then swung the mace forward with all his strength, releasing it at just the right time to send it spinning through the air. Bluish-white tendrils of energy arced between the spikes and a rumbling sound filled the air.

It was a good throw, one of his best even in his weakened state, and it hit the vampire dead-on. There was a bright flash of blue-white light and a horrible electric sizzling, crackling sound and the vampire didn't even have time to scream before the charge gathered in the weapon was unleashed directly into it. The impact hurled it at least twenty feet, smoking. It crumbled into dust before it had even stopped entirely, the Stormhammer gleaming among the gray-brown ashes, still crackling with energy. He retrieved the weapon, grinning slightly as he felt it humming in his hands in a way that could only be described as 'satisfied'.

There was a groan from behind him as Buffy_- What kind of mother would name her offspring 'Buffy', of all things?_, he asked himself- stirred, then stared at him and Willow with terrified eyes.

"Who are you people," she whimpered, "Where am I? This isn't Boston, there are strange things here.. I was at the Colonel's mansion, and there was someone from the Black Watch and Quebec had fallen to General Wolfe and there was a celebration and.. I was here. What is this place? What happened to that.. that _thing?_"

Skye looked at Willow, raising a single eyebrow. "_This _is your 'great warrior'?"

"She's not exactly herself, but neither are you.." Skye glared at Willow, who made an 'eep' sound before turning to Buffy again. "Okay," she said, "Calm down. Your name is Buffy, and I am Willow and this is..." She hesitated and looked up at Skye. He sighed and bowed formally, but not before giving Willow a _look_ of his own.

"Skye of Deathwing Clan, son of Dragoroth," -not that his old clan name -or that of his father- had any meaning here, but they had been enough to raise respect at his first home- "a mercenary-for-hire at your service, m'lady. The creature is no more.. you need not fear."

She perked up. "A mercenary? You mean a hired soldier? Did my father send you to find me?"

Skye shook his head. "No, m'lady.. I was merely close enough to aid you when needed. Perhaps we should seek for a safe haven until we can send a message for your father that you are safe?" Nobility in general usually made Skye's teeth hurt, with their superior attitudes and general soft weakness. Sadly enough often the fastest way to deal with them was to give them what they wanted, and this Buffy seemed like the prime example of a pampered noblewoman. Thus, he went along with her, although he did not have to like it.

Willow looked at them and seemed to come to a decision. "Okay, we need to get to safety.. Buffy's house – abode, place of residence or whatever. Follow me? Sheesh. Why couldn't she have dressed like Xena?"

----

The first thing Skye saw as he entered the Summers house was a large mirror across the hall. He nearly lost control of himself at the first glance. The face that looked at him was completely unfamiliar: that of a teenaged, dark-haired boy. Suddenly he finally realized the full extent of his predicament and everything seemed to click in place. At some level he had thought someone had managed to summon him into this world- although he had no idea if there even _was _a ritual for summoning a Sojourner- but instead.. by sheer dumb luck or by some twist of Fate (_Fate has a twisted sense of humor, _he remembered saying once) someone had dressed up as _him._ That explained why he couldn't sense _her-_ _she _was still where _she _and the _real_ him had been when the spell had activated. The _real _him.. _he _was nothing more but a mask, a failed copy of what he could have been..

The realization hit hard and he had to sit down, suddenly afraid his knees wouldn't hold him anymore. He took time to examine his 'new' face; save for the eyes, which were still the metallic gold he had been born with –to his relief- and hair color it was quite different from what he had been used to. After a moment he gave the his mirror image a good glare- not quite as impressive as before, but close enough- and then bared his teeth in a silent growl. Rows of completely smooth, entirely normal human teeth greeted him and he frowned, feeling them with his tongue. Unlike before, they were completely normal, whereas before the canines had been slightly elongated as to resemble fangs. He then frowned and flexed his arms, watching the movements of the muscles. It appeared that whatever transformation spell had been used had not been perfect- instead of being completely himself his current form seemed to be something from between his own and that of the boy- 'Xander'?- who had decided to dress up as him. That explained how his senses were been oddly dimmed and why he felt weaker.

He barely realized that the girl in the red dress- 'Buffy', he reminded herself- was wailing something about not looking at all what she should have looked like. He buried his face in his hands, feeling suddenly far more vulnerable than he would have liked.

"What has been done to me.. to us?"

Willow gave him a sympathetic look- he seemed to be getting a lot of those tonight. "That's what we're trying to figure out. I'll go get Giles- he's a librarian, a scholar, he knows a lot about things like this. You stay here and keep an eye on Buffy, OK?"

With that, she walked straight through the wall.

Skye looked up and saw a dark-haired man in a leather jacket and a brown-haired young woman in a feline costume- that had, apparently, not been transformed for some reason- staring at him. He took a closer look at the man, realizing there was something wrong with him. His skin looked oddly pale, and he stood completely still- he was not even breathing, he noticed. Skye had an odd dualed feeling about him.. he felt partly dark, like the monster he had destroyed, but something was keeping the shadows within repressed.

"You.. are not human" Skye stated.

The girl in the cat-costume stared at him like he had grown a second head, then rolled her eyes and disappeared into the bathroom, muttering something about Harris losing it completely.

The man looked at him with a perplexed expression. "Neither are you.", he said doubtfully.

Skye shrugged. "Not entirely, no." He didn't care to elaborate at this point. "What are you?"

The man shrugged. "A vampire with a soul. They call me Angel."

Skye raised and eyebrow. "Costume or original?"

"Original."

Skye reached a hand out. "Skye of Deathwing Clan, traveler and mercenary."

Angel looked at his outstretched hand for a moment with an odd expression, then shook it hesitantly.

Suddenly the constant feeling of darkness around him intensified and Skye stood up fast, reaching for the Stormhammer. "We have company!"

----

"Willow, are you saying that the people wearing costumes have been transformed _into _their costumes?!" Giles repeated incredulously.

Willow nodded emphatically. Giles took his glasses off, wiped them against his napkin and put them back on, muttering 'oh dear'.

"I'm a ghost, Buffy's a noblewoman and Xander's some mercenary. We've got to find a way to turn them back!"

Giles nodded. "Yes, we do.. Is everyone effected or are there some 'normal' people left?"

Willow frowned. "Well, Cordelia went as a cat and didn't change.."

Giles suddenly had one of his 'Eureka' moments. "Willow, did you get your costume from the same or different store than Cordelia?"

"Cordelia said she got hers at Partytown, but.. That's it! We got ours from that new shop, '_Ethan's_'!

Giles blinked suddenly and when he spoke his voice had something in it that made Willow shiver. "Ethan's.. Tell me, the proprietor wouldn't happen to have been named Ethan Rayne, would he?"

Willow nodded slowly. "Actually.. he would. Do you know him?"

Giles gave her an odd half-smile. "He's an old.. accomplice of mine. Go get Buffy and the others. I'll take care of this myself.."

Willow gulped.

----

****

Ka-SMASH! 

There was an enormous crash and _something_ huge with an odd orange-purple-blotched, warty skin, far too many teeth to his liking and long claws came straight through the door. Angel's face twisted, his brow and forehead twisting and creasing, his teeth lengthening into sharp fangs. As he leapt at the creature Skye hurled the Stormhammer at it, then bared his teeth in a feral snarl and lunged. An enormous clawed limb came at him and he deflected the blow with his bracers. He squeezed his hands into tight fists and lightning crackled around them before he drove his knuckles into the monster's side, the energy gathered into his fists surging through its flesh enough to down an elephant.

The demon bellowed like an ox someone had just lobbed a fireball at and swung again at him. Skye had barely time to think something to the effect of '_this **will **hurt' _before a well-aimed blow took the air from his lungs and hurled him clear across the hall. Instinctively he curled into a tight ball and used his control over the Air element to lessen the impact. The moment his heavy boots slammed into the wall he kicked out, his entire body uncoiling like a spring. There was a _crack _of splintering and shattering wood as he practically ricocheted off the wall directly into the demon, his entire body crackling with electricity. There was a second pained bellow that made his ears whistle as a second surge of pure thunder crashed into the demon- then there was a sharp crack and an odd gurgle as the demon collapsed. Angel reached out and smashed his boot down on the demon's neck and it shuddered, then laid completely still.

Skye picked himself up, his hair and skin still tingling with electricity, and proceeded to yank the Stormhammer out of the demon's side with a sickening squelching sound not unlike a plunger pulled from a toilet bowl. "What of the Nine Hells was that thing?"

Angel shook his head, his vampiric visage still in place, and wiped his slimy boot on the carpet. Skye realized the demon had been covered in a thin layer of foul-smelling mucus, and, consequently, now he too was splotched with the vile stuff. _Thank Dachar I can't smell as well I should._

"A Gavarn demon" Angel said. "They absorb energy with their claws- mainly electric energy. What it was doing here I have no idea."

Skye frowned. Maybe Angel had no clue but _he _had. Air was his 'Dominant Sphere'- his natural element, the abilities granted by it including control over the weather, wind, sound and _electricity_. Apparently the demon had been attracted to him because of his natural control over thunder. _Brilliant, just what I needed- Skye-seeking demons._ _Why me?!_

It was then that he heard footsteps and Buffy's voice from- again- behind him.

"What was that noise? How-_Eeeeeek!_" She stared at the demon corpse and Angel still in his vampiric face in horror and before the vampire or Skye could react she had dashed off through the house, screaming all the way.

Skye cursed. "_Please _tell me there is no back door in this house."

The sound of a door slamming answered him.

He groaned. "I hate my life."

----

The door slammed open and Ethan looked up to see his old friend storm in, looking considerably miffed. "Why hello, Ripper! So nice to see you too! Enjoying my chaos for tonight?"

Giles glared at him. "I left that name behind long ago, Rayne. Cancel that spell- _now._"

Ethan grinned at him. "Oh come on, old chap, don't tell me you can't feel the chaos around you? Just like old times, isn't it?"

If looks could have killed there wouldn't have been anything left of Ethan except for a smoking crater. "Those 'old times' have passed. Tell me how to undo the spell."

Ethan's grin took on a darker shade. "Why?"

He never knew to expect the punch that broke his nose and hurled him a good ten feet backwards onto his rear.

"That's why!"

----

Spike passed a dark alley, admiring the havoc the mini-monsters were causing, when he heard a whimpering sound and spotted a familiar scent. He took a few steps backward and peered into the alley. "Well, well, who do we have here?"

The Slayer looked up at him with a frightened, tear-streaked face. "W-who are you? What do you want?"

Spike grinned. "Nevermind that.. You're coming with me now!"

In a single fast move he snatched the Slayer's wrists in an iron grip and pulled her against him. Her eyes widened.

"P-please! My father will pay you handsomely if you return me to him!"

Spike grinned even wider, allowing his vampire face to show. "Oh, but it's not always the _gold_ the thief is after, Slayer.." he growled.

The Slayer screamed.

----

Angel was leading them in a considerably fast run, following Buffy's scent trail. Being undead, most mortals would've long since tired following him, but Skye was not like the most. "Are you sure this is the right way?!" He hollered at Angel.

"Would you like to try to scent her?!" Angel snapped at him, not even bothering to slow down.

Skye scoffed. Normally he could have smelled a single drop of blood from a hundred yards, but now..

A scream tore through the air and Angel nearly froze, Skye having to swerve and hop to avoid running straight into him. Skye could sense the individual sound waves bouncing off walls and other obstacles, locking onto their source with a frightening accuracy using his mastery over the Air element.

"This way!"

This time _he_ had to slow down so that Angel could keep up with him.

----

His chest was on fire, his cheekbone felt broken and two of his fingers were sticking out at odd angles. From his position on the floor Ethan Rayne spat out a glob of blood and saliva and grinned. "There's the Ripper I know," he chuckled. A boot thudded into his left kidney and he hunched over it, retching. Giles leant over him.  
"I'm tired of asking this: how kick do you kick stop the kick _spell_?" he ground out between clenched teeth. "Ethan..."  
The tip of the boot came back again and Ethan realized that enough was enough.  
"Enough! Smash the.. Smash the statue!"

----

Spike leaned in for the bite when he heard a shout. He looked up and saw the old poof and the Harris kid in a tacky leather costume running at him. "Harris?! Angelus? What the bloody hell are _you_ doing here?"

Angel growled. The kid's eyes flared suddenly a shade of deep metal gold and Spike suddenly had a sinking feeling.

"My name is not Harris.. I am Skye of Deathwing Clan, mercenary and Sojourner! Release her at once, _parasite_, and I _might_ decide to end your sorry existence in a _swift_ manner!"

Spike snorted. "Lots of talk, but you've got no muscle to back it up, Harris. Back off, the chit's mine."

A deep rumbling sound filled the air and too late Spike realized something was _very_ wrong about the kid. In an impossibly fast move Harris reached behind his shoulder and pulled something loose with a nasty clicking sound. Instinctively Spike tossed himself down onto the pavement and heard a nasty **SMASH!** from behind him. He looked back and saw a gigantic spiked mace protruding from the wall, still quivering from the force of the throw. A spider-web pattern of cracks ran through the bricks from the mace.

Spike grinned. "Good throw, Harris.. but you missed."

Harris suddenly grinned and held his right hand out. "_Thrall!"_

A crunching sound was heard as the mace suddenly vibrated in the wall, then _wrenched itself out_ and flew through the air, spinning to Harris' outstretched hand. He grinned darkly and swapped it to his left hand. "Maybe so.. but I don't _need_ this to destroy you, _cthol'na."_ He held his right palm up and white and blue sparks jolted above his fingers, forming an orb of energy that spread a thick stench of ozone around it.

Spike's mouth ran dry. "Oh _bollocks._"

----

Giles took a good grip and raised the bloodstained statue high above his head before throwing it to the floor, shattering it to hundreds of tiny pieces. A thin wailing sound rose as the energy supporting the chaos spell ceased to exist with no font to channel it through.

----

Harris grinned and the thunderball zoomed towards Spike. Right before it hit him there was a 'pop' much like a falling lightbulb and the ball shattered into dozens of tiny sparks that stung but didn't hurt Spike. Spike growled at Harris, who made a sound very much like 'eep' and backed off.

"I'm gonna _kill_ you, Harris.."

Something suddenly took his feet from under him. The slayer stood up and tore her wig off, revealing her blonde hair.

"Guess what, Spikey? Normal service has returned."

Spike scrambled up and ran for dear life.. dear death.. dear undeath.. You get the point.

----

The others were downstairs, trying to figure out how to repair the damage the chaos mage had caused, trying to wrap their heads around the fact that Giles- G-man, of all people!- had such a dark past, and, most importantly, _how_ the Hell were they going to explain Mrs. Summers that she needed a new carpet and that there was a pair of deep bootprints _five feet_ up her wall. Xander, however, had bigger problems to deal with.

He was sitting in the bathroom, staring at the mirror. He still hadn't taken off the leather costume and he still had his boots and bracers on. He reached a hand to the back of his head and tentatively yanked at the braided ponytail. The pain made his eyes water and he let go, rubbing his scalp. He sighed and looked his mirror image into the eyes..

Into the fierce_ golden _eyes.

"This.. could be a problem."

He looked down and saw the spiked mace propped against the wall.. the now solid, fifteen-pound-hunk-of-solid-steel morningstar mace that still occasionally jolted with electricity.

"Oh boy."

----

****

Please read and review! I need to know if I should bother writing more of this!


	2. Chapter 2

****

Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

****

Chapter 2

Xander sighed, curled in a comfortable half-sitting-half-lying position on his bed, his expression thoughtful. At some level realized he was nearly brooding and a brooding Xander was not good- heck, a brooding Xander was against the laws of nature- but things in general weren't good. He had a good reason to be almost brooding.

__

FLASH 

Screams in the night, animated skeletons, stench of blood and terror, crush the bones, RIP, TEAR, PROTECT…

FLASH 

Xander winced and pressed his palms to his pounding temples. Ever since the cursed Halloween night two weeks ago he'd been.. different. Ok, so Willow had been checking the walls on the first few days in case she could phase through them and Larry the football player, who had dressed up as a pirate, had been going 'Arrrrrrr!' until Snyder gave him detention, and Buffy could suddenly speak old French, but.. something had happened to him. Sometimes he'd remember things he _knew_ had never happened to him and sometimes he'd get these odd _flashes_ of memories that mercenary, Skye, had somehow left behind.. along with a few other things. The braided ponytail was easy enough to get rid of, but his eyes.. they were still the odd shade of golden Skye's had been, with no signs of returning to normal. At least people thought he had contacts- explaining that his eye color had just changed overnight could get.. interesting. For once the SDS- Sunnydale Denial Syndrome- was actually of use to him.

That wasn't the least of his problems. Xander had no idea who this 'Skye' had been, but he hadn't been your standard issue Human. His memories from that Halloween night were foggy at best but Willow had told him she'd seen him throw the mace he'd had hard enough to wreck a car, or instantly destroy a vampire. He could vaguely remember fighting a demon that would've normally eaten him for breakfast... and he had come inches away from dusting Deadboy Junior with some kind of a lightning ball spell. He had a sneaking suspicion that the entire 'mercenary for hire' thing had been a facade for something, but _what?_

Which brought him to the third point. Most of the costume- the leather armor, the amulet, the gauntlets, boots and trousers- had turned back to normal when the spell had ended. The mace- which was obviously enchanted- hadn't. It was now solid black steel, decorated with silvery runes, and every now and then a jolt of electricity would arc between two spikes with a nasty _snap_ and a puff of the sour smell of ozone. He had to use both his hands to just lift the damn thing and every time he tried to pick it up it would give him a nasty zap for his troubles. He had finally nicked a pair of rubber gloves from the kitchen and hauled it to the back of his closet, wrapped it in a thick layer of plastic bags and buried it under a mountain of laundry to silence it.

The freakiest part yet was that.. he was growing. Xander could only guess that whatever lingering essence Skye had left behind was trying to strengthen him. Whatever the reason, he had already gained an inch in height. He was slightly stronger now, slightly faster and slightly more agile. His growth spurt had suddenly made him want to _move,_ to run or jump or _something_ to get rid of his excess energy, so he had made a habit of running around a few blocks after school, well before dusk and as far as possible from abandoned warehouses and other possible vamp-nests. Every day he could run a bit faster and further before tiring, jump a little higher and lift a little heavier things, and there seemed to be no end to it. The changes were slow and gradual.. He wouldn't have had noticed anything if G-man hadn't recruited him to help with some new books he had ordered. What _really _frightened him was the fact that even his jaw muscles were stronger now.. and that his canines, on both his upper and lower jaw, were slightly lengthened, too. They still weren't anything like vamp fangs but he now had officially one of the freakiest grins he'd ever seen. Lucky him no one seemed to notice _that. _Xander _really _hoped he wouldn't have to visit a dentist in the near future.

At some level Xander knew he should've been happy now that he was becoming something actually useful to the Scoobies- Buffy was, after all, the Slayer, Willow was a witch-in-training, and Giles was a Watcher, but Xander.. well, he had been just a normal Human- and he had _no _idea why he now thought 'Human' with a capital H- teenager. But now that he was getting powers of his own.. he wasn't sure if whatever he was.. maturing.. into even was Human.

And _that _possibility terrified him. Especially now that Deadboy was Killer Deadboy, could they afford losing one of the Scoobies? Even him, the self-proclaimed Zeppo, could be useful, but if whatever he was becoming was hostile.. Could they handle two enemies at the same time, especially if Skye was as powerful Willow had made him seem?

Xander shook his head, sighing again. Possible metamorphosis aside, his _current_ problem, however, was the fact that Skye's leftover information seemed to be affecting his personality as well. Most of it seemed completely harmless- like the fact that he now had a new soft spot for children, an insane caffeine addiction and a strong dislike of large insects- but Willow seemed to be suspecting something. Every now and then she'd be staring at him when she thought he wasn't looking. That made him nervous, since.. Well, if Willow told Buffy she thought he was still possessed, the Slayer's first reaction would probably be 'How do we kill it?'. _That _couldn't be good for him. If Willow knew he was worried, he'd have to calm down and resolve this on his own. He couldn't tell the rest of the Scoobies of his.. condition.. at least not yet.

He heard the sound of a car driving past the house and looked outside, watching the evening sun fall slowly. It was time to patrol.

----

Xander carefully slid a hand on his crossbow, checking it was properly loaded for the thirteenth time in the last half an hour. Willow was slightly behind him, to his left, Xander could hear her breathing if he tried hard enough; Buffy was leading them along the graveyard path four or five yards ahead, a shortsword in her right hand, a stake in her left and several others clipped to her belt. Xander was armed with his crossbow, the bolt casing slung across his right shoulder, four stakes and a triplet of small vials of holy water strapped to his belt. Willow had several stakes, a crossbow and a cross on her. Apparently Skye had left behind an instinctive habit of making sure he knew exactly where his allies were and what weapons they were packing. Xander decided that was one of the good habits he'd received. One of the not so good ones was that every time he heard something unusual his hand went instinctively over his shoulder looking for a mace that was not there. Willow kept giving him odd looks for that.

It was three hours into their usual patrol route- the one that took them through most the graveyards and parks in Sunnydale the shortest way possible- and they still hadn't seen anything. Willow seemed happy anything hadn't tried to eat them yet and Buffy looked slightly ticked. Xander himself was nervous. Vampires usually didn't bother to wait when a potential meal- namely them- was nearby. They'd go for the kill- what humans could stand up to them, anyway?- and they'd get dusted. Something was wrong, Xander could feel it, and it was driving both him and what was left of Skye up the walls. he nearly hoped a vamp would pop up just so he could take out his pent-up energy on it.

There was a slight rustling sound to his right and without thinking Xander spun around and pulled the trigger. The bolt sailed into the darkness around them with a faint whistling sound. Moments later there was a hollow _thwack_ sound as the bolt sunk deep into an unsuspecting oak.

Buffy stopped and gave Xander a _look._ "Way to go, Xander, you just slayed your first tree. Geez, tense much?"

Xander pulled out a second bolt and reloaded the crossbow, glaring at the Slayer. "I'm not tense, that was an evil vampire tree.. I don't like this, Buffster. It's too quiet."

"See, maybe that's where you're wrong, Xander" Willow piped in. "Since there aren't any vampires around it's so quiet and since it's quiet we aren't being attacked and I think it's nice for a change, I mean, with no vampires.."

Xander gave Willow an unblinking, steady look. Willow stammered on for a moment before giving Buffy a deploring look. "Tell him to stop Buffy, that look is just too.. too.. not Xander!"

Xander rolled his eyes. "What I was saying is that something's up and we don't know what, and that's making me edgy. Something's even more wrong than usual here, and that can't be good."

He sensed them before he heard them. All the hairs on his neck stood up like the time that freaky mace had zapped him. The feeling of inherent _wrongness _around him intensified so suddenly Xander felt slimy or dirty like he'd just been dropped down a manhole. There was the slightest crunch of gravel beneath a heavy boot to his left and he let loose a second bolt without even bothering to aim. His bolt whizzed through the night and as it disappeared from sight there was a surprisingly soft thud and a startled grunt that broke off abruptly into the soft pitter-patter of falling dust.

Later Xander would remember that moment as the second everything went to Hell- figuratively speaking, of course, though you never knew at the Hellmouth. Hisses filled the night as glowing amber vampire eyes burning with unholy hunger flickered to sight everywhere around them. There were at least twenty of them, men and women, young and old, all with their vamp-faces on.

Xander didn't remember falling back before he found himself back-to-back with Willow and Buffy.

"Too quiet, huh, Xand?" Buffy growled.

Xander snarled back back, his teeth bared. "So much for 'no vamps'.."

Fangs glinting in the moonlight, the vampires moved to attack and Xander found himself too busy to even try for one of his snarky comments. He got off two surprisingly accurate crossbow shots- one directly to the heart, the other right into the right eye- before the vamps were too close for him to reload. He swapped the crossbow to his left hand and snatched one of the stakes off his belt.

----

As fights went, it was a sweaty, chaotic and completely uncoordinated skirmish. The vampires were strong, but they were completely uncontrolled with no signs of any kind of teamplay- thus, they were constantly in each others way, and they couldn't all get to them once, luckily enough. The first vamp that attacked Xander was swiftly staked. Xander ducked swiftly a wild swing from the second while bashing one that had tried to sneak past him at Willow over the head with his crossbow. Buffy was swearing rather colorfully- Xander hadn't even known she _knew_ some of those words, heck, he didn't even know what some of them _meant_- and he realized the vampires were concentrating on the strongest opponent so that they could pick him and Willow off more easily. For some odd reason that made him feel both indignant and _really _ticked off at the same time.

The vampire he had smacked shook its head, growling, and turned to face him. Instinctively Xander fell into a stance he guessed had been left over from Skye, his feed in a stout, slightly spread position, his weight on the balls of his feet and his back so very slightly hunched over. Before the vamp could react Xander had already knocked it over the head _again_ and stabbed it to the heart with his stake when it dropped its defenses. The _thwang _of Willow's crossbow echoed in the night. "I got one!"

"Go Wills!" Xander shouted.

__

If you wish to control your fighting you need to know where_ to hit_ _your opponent, _Xander suddenly heard a deep, soft voice in his mind. He flinched before he realized it was one of Skye's memory fragments brought up by the fight.

__

For disabling blows go for the hands, the knees, the groin, the stomach, the head and the eyes. Xander brought the sharp-edged bow section of the crossbow across the face of a vampire in a swift swipe, eliciting a satisfying scream as stolen blood leaked from its blinded eyes. It brought its hands up to cup its face and Xander stabbed it in the chest. It exploded into dust in mid-shriek. Xander realized he wasn't even sweating, let alone tiring like he should have been.

__

For lethal blows.. aim for the throat, the neck, the chest and where the flesh is soft directly beneath where the ribs join. Skye's voice went on.

Xander sprang forward, slamming his elbow straight to the gut of a stunned vampire. As it doubled over (how it managed to wheeze without actually breathing Xander had no idea) he backhanded one to the face, surprising both himself and the vampire as the force of the slap threw it onto its back.

"Someone's been taking their vitamins!" Buffy shouted at him, staking a vampire while kicking one that had tried to sneak up on her to the nuts. Xander held back a wince of male sympathy as it keeled over. Then he staked it.

__

I pray to the Dragon Lord you will never need this knowledge.

Xander blinked at how weary the memory suddenly sounded. He'd thought Skye had _liked _fighting, guessing from his 'mercenary' occupation and from what Willow had told him.

His lapse in concentration cost him. One of the vampires got in a kick from his side that hurled him a good fifteen feet though the air. His head hit a stone barely buried beneath the grass and the explosion of pain and nausea made him nearly pass out. The stake fell from his slack hand.

Willow's voice called for him from somewhere far away as the world spun around him.. along with a voice from the dark recesses of his mind that he knew he had never heard before but he recognized instantly from Skye's memories. _Sher'auch'na._ Born-Of-Wind, a memory fragment translated the alien yet so familiar words.

The vampire stood over him, growling, its fangs bared in a macabre grin. As it bowed closer Xander felt suddenly a surge of incredible fury, his dizziness disappearing like somebody had flipped a switch somewhere. He bared his own nearly-fanglike teeth in a wild snarl. The vampire looked doubtful for a split second.

It was enough. Xander's hand found a vial of holy water clipped to his belt. It felt oddly warm to his hand as a single flick of a thumb popped the stopper off. His hand whipped out, splashing most of the blessed liquid directly into the face and the eyes of the vampire. There was a horrible acidic bubbling, fizzling sound and an incredibly painful yowl as the water burnt the vampire's face.

Later Xander would have no accurate recollection of exactly _how _he managed it, but in a split second he had flipped onto his knees and _pounced _at the vampire, taking it clean off its feet, all the while growling like an animal of some sort. At the time all he thought of was that this unholy _thing _had _hurt _him and would have hurt his _closest. _He grabbed a stake from his belt and brought it down with so much force the tapered point actually buried itself in the soil before the vampire disintegrated beneath him.

He stood up, shaking his head to clear off the odd haze that had overtook him. There were only five vampires left, three against a very pissed off Buffy (no problems there) one that was being held back by Willow's cross.. and one that was sneaking up on the red-haired Scooby, too far for him or Buffy to intercept. The stake in Xander's hand was blunt from the last blow, and as Xander reached for a replacement he realized with a growing horror somehow the two spare stakes had been torn off at some earlier point.

Xander snatched one of his holy water vials, weighing it in his hand. It was about the size of a perfume bottle, like three of his fingers together, made of thin glass with a simple stopper. As he tossed it up and down in his hand the more sensible part of him- the one about survival, one that had suddenly begun to sound suspiciously like Skye- told him what he was about to do was stupid, risky and childish. At least he could blame it on the bonk on his head.

As the vampire tried to reach for Willow Xander took aim and hurled the vial at it. It hit its target dead-on (the pun was unavoidable), shattering against the vampire's head. It screeched of pain and spun towards Xander with a murderous glow in its eyes.

Xander did something he hadn't done since kindergarten. He stuck his thumbs into his ears and waggled his fingers at the snarling vampire, blowing a wet raspberry at it.

"Can't catch me, nyah-nyah-nyah!"

Then he _ran, _the steaming and growling vampire in hot pursuit.

----

Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was the practice he had had, maybe it was his newfound strength left from Skye or some combination of the three but Xander had never run so fast in his life. His surroundings nearly blurred around him as his shoes hammered against the pavement. He could hear the vampire following him, snarling and growling at him, and he allowed a faint sneer manifest. His plan was simple: let the vampire chase him for a moment, then circle back and lead it back to Buffy and Willow so they could dust it. If it caught up with him.. Well, he had his last vial of holy water so he could at least slow it down for a decent head start.

A low fence cut off his way as he turned a corner. He didn't even slow down; he simply jumped, landing on a dumpster, and allowed the metal cover to work as a kind of a springboard to boost his leap clear over it. He could hear an annoyed growl behind him and then rattling as the vampire climbed over it while he built some distance- though not too much, lest the beast lose track of him.. and why did he just sound like some guy from Shakespeare?

His left foot found something squishy and Xander bit off a curse, swerving and hopping to keep from tripping. Most of the streetlights on siding this particular sidewalk were out, so he had to just pray nothing too sharp would end up underfoot as he ran. On the pro side he couldn't see exactly _what _he had nearly stepped into.

He turned a second corner, heading back towards the cemetery. The vampire was gaining on Xander; he could hear it snarling from no less than some a fifty feet behind him. A broken streetlight gave a strobing flash just in time for Xander to see an open manhole in the sidewalk just in front of him and he jumped over it. Some ten steps afterwards he heard a behind him a startled yelp and a heavy half-splash-half-thud sound followed by heavy cursing. Xander grinned evilly, still running at a steady pace. _And here I thought that trick worked only in cartoons._

He turned a new corned and headed towards an alley not too far from him. He took a sharp turn, still running, then skidding to a halt as he saw three men speaking in hushed voices further down the alley.

A sudden twinge of the same, intense dark feeling he had sensed at the graveyard shot through him and he tensed in alarm. One of the men looked up at him, nudged the two others and growled, his eyes melting into amber as the vampires bared their fangs and allowed their vamp-faces to show.

Xander blinked. "Oh nuts."

The vampires stalked towards him and he turned tail and _ran.. _again.

----

Twenty minutes later Xander had the sneaking suspicion he had run through over half of the streets and alleys in Sunnydale. Two of the vampires had given up after some ten minutes into the chase, but the third.. either he was _really _hungry or just plain stubborn. He'd tried absolutely everything from tipping over dumpsters into the vampire's path to using the classic 'draw back a branch at face level and let go' trick when they had run through a park. Xander was beginning to be slightly tired and _really_ pissed.

__

Persistent little sucker Xander growled to himself. He then groaned at his own, unintentional and lame pun, neatly sidestepping a patch of glass shards from a broken bottle. Moments later he heard a crunching sound and a growl of pain from behind him. _That should slow him down, _he thought and gave a nasty chuckle. The footsteps from behind were now slightly shuffling, clearly favoring one leg.

They were in one of the less savory sections of Sunnydale, a section dominated by run-down houses and old warehouses. Xander had long since abandoned his plan to lure the vampires back into the cemetery- Buffy and Willow were most likely not there any more, in fact they were likely looking for him- and was scanning the area for anything he could use as a weapon to take out the vampire. Then he'd find his way to the high school library where he they were bound to return sooner or later. He thanked whatever god was watching out for him that one of the perks he'd gotten from Skye was an acute sense of direction. He knew the park was about a mile to the northwest and the library was more like two miles east from where he was now.

He rounded a corner, heading southeast.. and came face with a brick wall. The alley went on for about a dozen yards before ending abruptly into the back side of a building. There was a door in the wall, but as Xander tried it, he found it locked and too strong to break through. "Nuts.. outsmarted myself again."

There was a growl from the end of the alley and Xander glanced around him, spotting a broken plank in the dumpster next to the door. He snatched it and bashed it against his raised knee, breaking it into two sharp-edged sections. He twirled his makeshift stakes, getting a feel of them, just as the vampire came into sight. It sniffed the air, growling, then grinned as it saw Xander couldn't run now. It couldn't have been more than eighteen when it had gotten turned, dressed in a biker's outfit with chains and studs all over the leather jacket. _Probably a biker gang member,_ Xander thought, _one of Sunnydale's Hell's Angel wannabes._ _Oh the irony._

"Aaww.. is the little human trapped?" It snarled at him.

Xander bared his teeth in a feral expression. "Ok, fangboy.. Let's dance."

The vampire chuckled. "I like the young ones.. the blood feels so fresh.. a little like my sister's."

Something in him stirred and Xander growled, a deep, rumbling sound that would've made Angelus proud. His eyes itched and burned oddly and everything suddenly seemed to become much more clear like he could see the individual specks of dust on the vampire's jacket or the pores in it's dead and cold skin. Suddenly the alley didn't seem nearly as dark as it should've been. The vampire blanched, if possible, and stumbled backwards. "What the fu-"

Something swished in the shadows behind it and suddenly it exploded into dust, the ash cloud completely covering whoever killed it from sight. Xander sighed, knowing only one person who'd kill a vampire like that.

"Thanks, Buffy.."

The dust was clearing out now and Xander nearly choked. The figure was slim and female but too tall to be Buffy. The long, dark brown hair and the old-looking black and red velvet dress told him the rest.

----

"Naughty kitten, naughty naughty!" Drusilla declared in a singsong voice, swaying towards him in a dreamy way. Her expression was playful, nearly childlike, but her eyes were the horrifying blank pools only the insane vampire-seeress could have.

"Drusilla.." Xander hissed, shaking his head. Something in the seeress was setting off several alarm bells in his mind.. somehow the feeling of darkness he got from her was swirling, flowing, ebbing and pulsing in a way that confused him. Part of him wanted to run or hide, part of him wanted to fight.. part didn't know _what _it wanted. "What do you want?"

Steel glittered in Drusilla's hand as she slipped a long, nasty-looking knife on some recess within her dress. "Naughty kitten!" Drusilla said again, waving her finger at him like scolding a pet that had just chewed on her favorite shoes. "The stars sing to me, my kitten sings to me.. Miss Edith says to find kitten.." Drusilla's eyes lit up with an odd glee as she stalked towards Xander. Xander raised one of his stakes in warning and the vampire giggled.

"My.. Kitten has found his claws.." Drusilla looked into his eyes and frowned. "But Kitten feels broken now, like a bag of glass and shards.. Kitten isn't just Kitten anymore.." She leaned in closer and Xander tried to lift his stake only to find he couldn't move. Drusilla's eyes were now curious, nearly enraptured by whatever she saw in his yes.

"Kitten isn't just Kitten anymore" she repeated in a mysterious tone. "There's my Kitten, all broken up, and there's the little puppy.." her eyes flickered, "and there's the dragon and the monster.. all claw and bite and pain and blood and thunder.. they all want out but Kitten doesn't know how.." She leaned even closer, sniffing. "The stars are singing.. I smell your blood, so sweet and young.. it's singing to me.."

Paralyzed, Xander couldn't move a muscle as Drusilla leaned in for the bite. Suddenly the confusion in his mind disappeared, replaced with a strange sense of clarity. A growl rose through his chest unbidden, a deep rumbling vibration more felt that heard as an odd haze seemed to descend on his senses. Suddenly he felt he could move again and shoved at the vampiress, growling with his teeth bared. Drusilla flinched and backed away, her expression suddenly curious.

"There's my Kitten.. and there's the dragon.." Drusilla looked into his eyes.. and this time she didn't like whatever she saw again. Her eyes widened and she actually yelped.

"No.. No! I can't hear my stars, I can't hear Miss Edith.. I see the eye! It's watching me!"

Xander growled and the bits of wood fell from his hands and he stalked towards the babbling vampiress. She looked more and more terrified at each step, her gaze flickering between Xander and the night sky. Suddenly she threw her head back and _screamed._

"It _burns! _Nasty eye, nasty dragon.. it's all blue and crystal and gold and thunder and fire.. I can't hear the stars.. _Noooo!_"

The seeress suddenly bolted, her dress billowing at each step, desperate to get away from Xander and whatever she saw. He could hear her wails long after she had disappeared from sight, screaming of burning and dragons and eyes.

Xander blinked. "That was unexpected.. I can't believe I just did that." Suddenly he shivered as the alley seemed to darken around him. The feeling of darkness he'd gotten from Drusilla and the other was fading rapidly and with it, the strange energy boost that had kept him moving the entire evening was running out. He had run for miles straight on pure adrenaline and now the threat was gone he felt the fatigue. The last thing he heard before his knees failed were running footsteps and a gasp as he saw Willow round the corner.

"Wills.. you came.." he managed to mutter into the darkness.

He knew no more.

----

"Wills.. you came.." Xander gave Willow a kind of half-smile before his eyes closed and he fell on his knees. Willow automatically moved to stop him before he could fall on his face. _God, he's heavy. He must've gained some weight._

"I found him, Buffy!"

Moments later the Slayer ran to them, still sweaty after the fight. "Is he hurt?"

Willow looked Xander over once, noticing how underneath his baggy shirt his arms felt.. firm, like he had gained some muscles. From what she could see there were no marks of a fight on him.

"I don't think so.. he isn't bleeding."

Buffy picked up a sharp-edged piece of plank near where Xander had stood. "Looks like he fought off a vamp, maybe even more than one." She gave a pointed gesture at a pile of dust near the entrance to the alley. "Think we can move him?"

Willow nodded. "I think we can. Let's get back to the library."

As Buffy took a final look around Willow couldn't help opening one of Xander's eyelids and taking a peek when Buffy wasn't looking. Save for the golden contacts Xander had taken to wearing after Halloween everything looked normal, but.. the last look Xander'd given him collapsing.. It had to have been a trick of the light, Willow reasoned, but for one moment she'd thought Xander's eyes had been solid gold with narrow slits for pupils.. like those of a cat or a lizard.

---------

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There you have it.. Chapter 2 is out, finally! I was kinda worried about if people would like this fic, but.. Well, four reviews for the first chapter seem nice enough :-) Just in case anyone is wondering, I'm flying this by the seat of my jeans, so delays might be forthcoming (depending on if my muses begin acting up). Anyway, onto Review Responses;

Crossedoff:Thank you! I intend to.

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Suzuka Blade: :stashes plushies right next to my monitor: Thanks! I hope you like what will come next.

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Harry2: Trust me, you haven't seen the half of it. I just hope I don't unintentionally create one of those 'über-Xander' fics. I mean, no offense to anyone, Xander as Goku from Dragon Ball Z? Can we say _overkill?_

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This is not a Story File: I'm planning to, assuming I get enough reviews.. :grin:

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed this fic, and remember, more reviews equal a happy author, which results in faster updates! Oh, and if you spot any weird formatting errors (such as the end of chapter 1 being entirely in italics) please drop me a hint so I can fix 'em. Cheers, see you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

Chapter 3

Xander was standing in a place that could only be described as empty. Gray mist so thick he couldn't see his feet swirled in a cool layer that reached above his knees. Wherever he looked, he could see no landmarks of any kind, only thick mist that squirmed and pulsed like a living thing, forming mounds and pits in no visible pattern. There were no visible sources of light; everything was just bathed in an eerie silvery gray glow. No sound could be heard except what seemed to be a chorus of silent, wordless whispers Xander could barely hear if he strained to listen.

"Hello?"

Hello? Hello? Hello.. llo.. lo.. .o..

Xander jumped, startled, when only distorted echoes and the whispers answered.

"Is somebody there?"

Somebody there.. dy there.. there.. ere..

He heard only the echoes and the low ambient whispers that seemed to stay frustratingly just outside his hearing range.

"Answer me!"

Answer me.. swer me.. er me.. me..

He thought he saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye and spun only to face more mist. Slowly the mist some yards away from him rose into a mound at least eight feet high- then Xander realized there was a figure inside the mound. Xander stood his ground, transfixed as the figure took a step forward, piercing the mist.

Silver and black leather gleamed as Xander realized he _knew_ the man- from the picture he'd seen that fateful night. A vest of black and silver leather armor covered his broad chest and shoulders and he wore black and silver leather trousers held up by a black leather belt with several leather pouches set into it. The light glittered dully against his dark steel armguards. His face was curiously neither young nor old; he looked young but at the same time exuded an aura of experience and might. His jaw was strong, his nose straight, his hair standing up in a short layer on top of his head. His golden eyes gleamed and as light caught the amulet on his neck the tiny ruby set as its eye seemed to glow with an inner light for a short moment.

Skye stood up to his full height of six feet and crossed his arms, giving Xander a calm look.

"You.." Xander hissed. "Who are you?"

Skye raised a single, coal black eyebrow. "I think you know the answer to that question, young one." His voice was low and deep, with a slight, unplaceable accent.

Xander glared. "I know your name, _Skye of Deathwing Clan, _if that even is your real name, but that's all I know. I know you aren't a Human- _what _are you?!"

A low chuckle sounded. "Straight to the point.. At one time I could have been called a Son of Dachar, or a _dachardal'wynn. _Now.. I am naught but an echo, a fraction of memory, the ghost of what I once was.. and what you could be again."

"You speak in riddles.. Where are we? What is this place?"

Skye shrugged. "This is no place.. it is a state of mind, the core of your existence, your.. soul room, in lack of a better name. It is what you will it to be. You cannot control it yet, thus the Void appearance." Skye's expression darkened. Behind him other dark figures could be seen appearing in the mists, shapeless but approaching slowly. "There is little time, Alexander LaVelle Harris.. now you must listen, and listen well. What has happened to you has not been seen before but once and the results can be dire if you do not learn to control your potential. What has been molded together cannot be split apart without destroying both.. what powers you have received from me, both those you already have and those that lie dormant, cannot be removed without tearing your very soul asunder in the process. You must draw out those powers, learn to access them and tame them lest they destroy you and all those you hold dear. You must seek.. and learn.. and _remember, _hatchling." At the last words Skye locked eyes with Xander, who found himself stunned as the gold in Skye's eyes spread out, turning them into solid gold with narrow cat-slit pupils.

----

In the real world Xander's eyes snapped instantly open, startling the living daylights out of Giles whom had just leaned over him to check him over.

"I remember." Grunting, he rose to find himself on a cot in a more secluded corner in the library. The world swam in his eyes for a moment as he stood up, ignoring the Watcher. He felt curiously _hollow_ inside for a moment and realized his run through the town had consumed more energy than he had expected.

Grunting, he rose to find himself on a cot in a more secluded corner in the library. The world swam in his eyes for a moment as he stood up, ignoring the Watcher. He felt curiously inside for a moment and realized his run through the town had consumed more energy than he had expected. 

"I've got to get home.."

Giles stared at him. "Xander, are you.. are you feeling quite all right? Maybe you should lie down for a moment."

Xander shook his head, nailing the Watcher with a golden look. "No, Giles, I'm fine. I just need to get home.. there's something I need to do.."

Giles just stared at his retreating back as he left the library, heading for home.

----

The lights were out as Xander finally got back to his house. He fished his keys out of his pockets and proceeded to sneak in. The stench of alcohol hit him like a physical blow the moment he opened the door and he had to retreat for a moment, gagging and gasping for clean air. Either his old man had _really _pulled himself over this time or one of Skye's leftover abilities had been an enhanced sense of smell.. possibly both. Shrugging, Xander navigated his way to the stairs neatly sidestepping mounds of empty beer cans and bottles and other unmentionable junk in the process (trying to breathe as lightly as possible on his way). He could hear heavy snoring from the direction of his parents' bedroom and kept as quiet as possible. Old man Harris could get nasty if someone woke him up.

The first thing Xander noticed when he entered his room was a faint smell of ozone that grew stronger as he opened the door to his closet. He could feel a tingling sensation all over his skin as he threw aside the laundry he'd buried Skye's mace under. There was a puff of bluish-gray, acrid-smelling smoke as he uncovered the mace. Steady streams of blue-white energy criss-crossed the metal surface, bathing the room in an eerie blue glow.

Xander reached out to grab the handle but paused inches before making contact, suddenly hesitant. From what he could remember the mace had been blessed by powerful forces and had been bound to Skye in a way.. just grabbing it couldn't have been too smart a move. Xander frowned, straining to remember..

Then it clicked. The mace was unique, keyed to obey only Skye's commands, but.. Skye had given it a _name, _something to command it with. Now if the Skye's essence within him was just powerful enough and he remembered the command words..

"Stormhammer?" Nothing happened save for a short pulse of warmth from the weapon. Xander frowned again, thinking..

FLASH

Fire and thunder, thick smell of smoke, a beautiful hammer seemingly made of lightning and clouds.. twisting, shrinking, reforming.. a black-and-silver spiked mace..

FLASH

Xander gasped as the memory fragment slammed into his mind, jerked and snatched the mace up by the handle. A feeling of hundreds of tiny needles began to swarm their way up his arm, a warning to let go..

Xander swallowed heavily and spoke two words left behind by the memory. _"Zor'schrann!"_

The needles stopped, seemed to flicker for a moment and disappeared. For a moment, nothing happened.. until the handle began to feel warm to his hand. Without any warning whatsoever the mace flared with a blinding blue-silver light that would have made Xander drop it except that it seemed to be glued to his hand. With a low crackling and sizzling sound streams of thunder reached out from the weapon and wrapped up and around his arm, disappearing somewhere near his shoulder. A feeling of warmth spread through his entire body as the streams vanished into his flesh, the light flickering out. As a low thrumming hum was emitted from the mace Xander found himself grinning like an idiot, only one word running through his head.

Mine.

----

Spike was smoking a fag all by himself when he heard the telltale sound of the door to the lair slamming. That by itself was nothing unusual but then he heard a soft moaning babbling, the noise Dru made when deeply disturbed, and he had to get a grip on himself not to just jump up from his wheelchair and go to her. Gritting his teeth, he instead rolled his wheelchair down the corridor and nearly ran into a teary-eyed, wailing Drusilla. She almost bowled him over as she leapt into his arms the moment she saw him, sobbing like a child.

Spike held his arms around her and made low comforting sounds. "Dru, love, come back to Spike, sweety.. What happened?"

For a long while there was no answer. Then she whimpered and drew back, looking at him with bloodshot eyes. "Spiky? Spikey?"

"It's me, love.. Can you tell me what happened?"

Dru sniffed again. "I saw my Kitten.. but Kitten isn't just Kitten anymore.. I saw the dragon, Spikey! It _burns _so bright.. I couldn't see my stars.. they're melding, growing, becoming.. it's waking up, Spikey! And it's so _angry_!"

----

A/N: This would be the perfect place to stop a chapter.. Lucky for you people, I've got this little voice in the back of my head saying 'keep writing, you idiot, keep writing'.

----

A single shaft of golden sunlight pierced the windowpane, little by little inching its way up pale skin. Finally it found purchase in a pair of tightly closed eyelids. After a moment they twitched , then suddenly snapped open, revealing a pair of eyes glittering like freshly polished gold in the sunlight. The pupils shrank in size until they were little more than pinpricks of black against the light.

With a groan Xander sat up, rubbing his eyes and stretching until something popped in his back. Slowly his sleep-ridden brain processed what he was seeing and found something wrong with it. If he had just last evening watched the setting sun from the same window.. what was it doing there now?

Xander's first coherent thought was 'You slept so long you missed school, _idiot!_ Snyder's going to kill you for this!'. The second, that promptly overrode the first, was 'It's Saturday, you moron.' Right after he'd.. acquired, in lack of a better term, the Stormhammer he'd gone to bed and, apparently, had slept soundly enough to completely miss his alarm clock.. or he _hadn't _missed it, to be exact, since the clock itself was nowhere in sight and there was a small pile of shattered plastic and electronics on the floor next to his nightstand. Xander looked at his right hand and found faint marks on it like he'd punched something with it.. _hard._ _..Nice going, Xan-man, you killed your alarm.. Y'know, that kinda explains why Buffy's buying herself a new one about twice a week._

Memories of what exactly had happened last night began to filter into his mind as he was beginning to wake up properly. He reached a hand under his bed and felt smooth, cool metal that sent a tingle through his arm at the touch, the mace stashed there vibrating slightly to the touch like a purring cat. Xander gave a wry grin. _Buffy's the Slayer, Giles is the Watcher, Willow's the witch-in-training.. and I've got a **really **__big mace. Go Light!_

After a moment the grin turned into a frown as Xander went through the dream he'd had after passing out. _'You must draw out those powers, learn to access them and tame them lest they destroy you and all those you hold dear..' It'd help if I knew **what **powers I'm supposed to receive. I suppose there's the increased strength/speed/stamina thing and the enhanced senses, but.. what else?_ _It seems like.. there's a dark aura surrounding this entire town, cold and eerie.. It's like hundreds of tiny ants crawling under my skin, but when I'm around vampires, it's so much stronger.._ Mere thought of the squirming feeling of taint Drusilla had emitted around herself made him shiver. _..I can sense the undead? That's handy, but there's **got **to be more._

Sighing, Xander leaned back and closed his eyes, concentrating on the sense of darkness he could feel even now that the sun was up- his 'spook radar', he nicknamed it more or less affectionately. The sensation was, now that he was paying attention to it, no more pleasant than sticking his entire arm into a vat of oily and stagnant water. He couldn't help shivering again. _Oh, eurgh.. and Buffy has to feel this all the time, what with her Slayer-sense and all.. I need a shower after this. I **really **do._

After a while Xander had no idea how long he'd been trying to keep up his near-meditative state but he was beginning to get used to it- a little like how he could see better in the dark after adjusting to it. The feeling of taint he'd tentatively connected with the Hellmouth was like a layer of oil on the surface of water, and it felt stronger northwards- incidentally, in the very direction of Sunnydale High. He could feel faint pockets of darkness that felt more dense, in lack of a better word, and figured those were vampire and demon nests- how far they were, he couldn't tell. What was really interesting, however, was a faint tingling sensation he couldn't quite place that felt close to him. Very close.

Still with his eyes closed, Xander stood up, reaching a hand towards the feeling. After a few steps his hand hit the wall. It felt like there was a stream of _something_ inside the wall he was sensing. He slid his fingers carefully against the wall, following the stream.. until his fingers met plastic. He opened his eyes to see what he had found..

The light switch.

Xander blinked. 'You've _got_ to be kidding me..'

----

Twenty minutes later Xander was sure of it- he could sense electric wiring. What use of _that_ particular power could be to him was beyond him, but it was something. If he came close enough to a cable he could sense it as a slight tingle; if he closed his eyes and concentrated hard enough he could sense the individual cables as streams that combined in the main switchbox and from there disappeared into the main network.

Confused, hungry and feeling a headache coming on, Xander shook his head and allowed his 'spook radar' fade, thinking hard. Enhanced strength and speed were pretty much a given among the supernatural, right along with enhanced senses, but the ability to sense the undead and electricity weren't that common.. or so he hoped. He'd never thought he'd see the day he'd admit it, but he needed to visit the library.

------**I know this may seem like a short chapter, but it seems like I've hit one of those parts of the story that are a royal pain in the rear to write.. I'll be writing more as soon as I can, although the fact I should be getting my copy of _Metroid Prime 2 _may slow things down :-P**

**Thanks to everyone that reviewed this story! Frankly, I'm surprised that this story has turned out this popular.. 13 reviews of chapter 2 made my day. Thanks guys!**

**Jwolf:** Yeah, I'd say a fully-grown dragon could be a _little_ too much.. Not to give anything away, I think I can safely say that a full dragon is out of the question. As for the rest.. you'll just have to wait and see.

**This is not a Story File:** :winces: Would you believe I forgot entirely about the Judge? Anyway, Xander will be gaining slowly most if not all Skye's abilities.. and yes, Skye is the Dragon, and the Monster.. well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

**Malaskor:** Yes, I think Skye could be fitted into D&D with some modifications (I'm a Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights player myself) although he isn't from any game or book- he's a figment of my imagination :-) And thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you like it.

**Mercva:** I'm glad you like it. I like similar stories myself, such as The Dark Scribbler's Jedi Harris, so this type of story is relatively fun to write.. and I don't like revealing _all _my tricks in one go. Xander and company will be in for some surprises.. I'll be keeping an eye out for that fic, btw.

**Quinn:** Absolutely! Thanks!

**DaBear:** Skye is a character from a series of crossovers I've been writing (but have yet to submit any of them, so don't bother looking for them). And yeah, dragon hybrid comes close, but I'm not telling anymore ;-)

**Peterv:** Skye is an entirely original character, and, well, your wish (or holler) is my command..

**Aaron:** Oh yes, surprises will be forthcoming, and I'm glad to know you like this.. Thanks for reviewing!Red-jacobson: I'm a Neverwinter Nights addict, and I tried to make his description seem a little AD&D-ish although I've yet to actually recreate him in a game :-)

**Layce74:** Heck yeah!

**Kimcc:** Glad you like it, and thanks for reviewing!

**M.Kearney:** Thanks for reviewing, and here you go!

**James:** I'll be trying, though I'm not that good of an angst writer.. We'll just have to see. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!


	4. Chapter 4

**Azure Halloween**

**Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.**

**Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.**

_Sorry for the delay, people. I had to write this on the computers at my school because my monitor broke down.. three-feet-off-the-table-onto-the-hardwood broke down. Don't ask. I got a new one anyway (pats his new 15" TXT monitor lovingly) At this point I'd also like to say that since Skye is an original chapter some readers might be confused by certain references. If anyone has any questions regarding Skye or his background please e-mail me (the link can be found in my bio) and I'll be happy to answer your questions.. unless, of course, the answers happen to be important plotwise._

**Chapter 4**

Xander closed the book he was holding with a soft thump and a puff of dust that made his eyes water for a moment. Sighing, he placed it in the steadily growing pile of skimmed through books on the table. After four hours of reading, scribbling notes and inhaling enough dust to give an elephant asthmatic seizures he had.. nothing. Zippo. Nada. Squelch. So far no supernatural creature described had fit his criteria of 'super-strength, super-sense, senses electricity, senses undead'. The closest hit had been a Fi'k'k'k'tha demon (how the name was pronounced Xander had no idea and he didn't even _want_ to know) that could sense certain energy sources and undead creatures but that one resembled a giant jellyfish/sea serpent hybrid that couldn't survive fifty feet away from the nearest body of salt water. No banana. So far he had found no mention of Dachar, children of Dachar, or _dachardal'ai_ either.

There was a faint yipping sound and Xander raised his head, taking a look around. The table he was working on was in the library basement, practically filled to the point of overflowing with old leatherbound tomes and bits of paper with various notes scrawled on them. The back of the room was separated from the rest by a strong steel cage, which currently held several mattresses and a scraggly werewolf. He was a huge thing, covered with brownish-black fur, and he was currently lying on his back, making small yelping and whining noises, his cloven paws twitching in the air.

Xander grinned. No matter the fact that Oz could tear a man into shreds while in his werewolf state, he still looked like a _really_ big puppy while asleep.

Xander hadn't realized the time of the month when he'd decided to do some research, mostly because of the fact he'd had so many things on his mind. It wasn't until he'd gotten to the library that he had remembered that it was full moon tonight.. and that it was his turn to keep an eye on Oz. At least he had a good reason for being in the library- he knew that if he'd just show up and head to the demon books at least Giles would get suspicious. He had, for a moment, considered telling the Watcher of his situation, right until common sense had squashed that thought. Giles would have probably just cleaned his glasses, oh-deared and buried himself in the library.. which Xander was doing fine by all himself, thankyouverymuch. Besides, Willow would've killed him if he told someone else than his bestest bud first. Well, not killed, but her resolve face would've made him wish he was dead. There should've been a law against that face. In fact, he was quite sure there _was_ one.

Xander skimmed through several pages, finding nothing useful, until a certain passage caught his eye. It was a part of some old Watcher's Diary from the 1750s, the ink badly worn and weathered, but if he squinted he could make out most of the words even if the language was a little old.

Apparently the Slayer of that time had discovered a vampire nest and, while cleaning it up, had encountered a demonic being she hadn't been able to identify. Like any good Watcher's Council-trained Slayer she had doubled back to report to her Watcher before setting off to destroy it. That had been the last time the Watcher saw his charge.. according to the Watcher nearly two hours later the warehouse (times never changed, did they?) had been decimated in 'a violent explosion of undetermined origin'. The body of the Slayer or the demon had never been found, although a week later a new Slayer had been discovered.

Xander paused to consider that. Suddenly a tingle shot through his body in warning moments before his mind was assaulted in a barrage of sensations.

_FLASH_

_Fear, excitement, anger.. Danger, close, very close.._

_"If you see me fall, turn and stay away. The males of my kind leave behind no trophies for our enemies, only death to those who cut us down."_

_"The thing we love the most about you is your bright outlook in life, big guy. You'll live. We all will."_

_FLASH_

Xander made a low pained growling noise, pressing his palms tightly against his skull. Just as he'd thought he had gotten used to the 'memory flashes' they seemed to get more painful. Before they had been more like fuzzy mental images, more like impressions rather than actual memories, but this one.. this one had had actual words. Words or no words, his head felt like someone had used it as a football. Or a wrecking ball, take a pick.

There was a faint whine from Oz before the werewolf twitched and opened his cool blue eyes. A formerly nearly unnoticeable presence in his spook radar lit up stronger as Oz righted himself, nostrils flaring. It didn't feel dark like a vampire did, just.. it was difficult to describe, like a sensation of wild hunt and silvery moonlight, bound by something that felt.. tainted with shadow, but Xander knew with a frightening certainty it meant 'werewolf'.

Xander watched Oz slowly pad to the front of the cage, the werewolf still sniffing the air. "Hiya, Oz. Looks like I got to watch over you tonight.. the _hell?_"

The moment he opened his mouth Oz's eyes had snapped wide open. With a sudden whine the werewolf seemed to shrink a size or two as he backed up to the corner of the cage, as far as possible from Xander. Xander stared as the werewolf actually trembled and whined like a scared puppy.

Pulling his chair further away from the cage Xander sighed, scribbling hastily 'freaks out werewolves' in the slowly growing list of 'stuff to look out for'. _Then _he decided to go look for some Tylenol for his headache.

----

The moment Xander got back home he snuck up to his room and made sure the mace was still in its place under his bed. Touching the warm, humming metal sent an equally warm shiver through him. For a short moment the hum of the weapon intensified into a low purring noise before dying down. Xander smiled and stretched, reaching out with his Xander-sense for a moment. The air in his room felt suddenly hot and stuffy; he couldn't sense anything nearby so he opened his window. The evening wind ruffled his hair and gave a pleasantly cool tingle against his skin.

Living on the Hellmouth had taught Xander to be extremely careful at all times. Nevertheless, as he drew in the night air.. then climbed out the window and onto the roof. The stars shimmered down at him from the cloudless sky as he spread his arms, feeling the wind with his body. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed open spaces until now.

Sighing, Xander sat down comfortably and leaned his back on the wall next to his window. He sat there feeling the wind and watching the silvery moon rise slowly until his eyes fluttered shut. He didn't wake up as the wind picked up slightly.. nor did he wake up when that same wind _wrapped_ itself around him, forming an invisible swirling protective shell around him that masked his scent from anything that hunted in the night.

That night the clouds covered the moon from sight shortly after Xander fell asleep. An unearthly chill spread over the town, a dark haze settling on the streets. The howl of the wind turned into something that resembled the wail of a dying animal, the sense of darkness so strong not even vampires dared to show their face.

Xander knew nothing of this. He slept there, his dreams filled with a faint beautiful music of thousands of voices raised in a wordless praise ringing through his very soul, the shell of air around him, and didn't wake up until the sun began to rise. And when he woke up he felt more refreshed than ever.

----

Xander yawned and stretched, his fanged canines glinting in the sunlight. He hadn't slept that well in ages. Somehow the sunlight seemed warmer, the air more fresh, the town even more quiet than usual.. this night he hadn't had any weird dreams or flashbacks. He could remember hearing the most beautiful music he'd ever heard in his sleep, basking in a pleasant warmth as the song had washed over him, but that was it.

Xander opened his eyes slowly.. then blinked as he realized that he was in a half-lying position on his _rooftop._ He blinked again, then shook his head and stretched before picking himself up. It was until he stretched and smelled the air again that he realized something was wrong. Sunnydale wasn't exactly the most lively town he'd seen, but now.. nothing was moving in the streets. _Nothing._ He couldn't even hear the normal sounds of traffic.

Xander frowned and looked around. Something on the sidewalk next to their front yard caught his eye- a scraggly ball of fluff he first thought was a feather duster. Then he saw a second one. And a third. Only after he spotted a fourth one on the corner of the roof did he realize what they were. Birds. Dead birds. There were dozens of them, spread all over the neighborhood, unmarked like they'd just keeled over and dropped out of the sky. Sniffing the air, Xander realized that there was a faint smell in the air he couldn't recognize but couldn't be good. A cold wave washed over him as he clambered in through his window, suddenly fully awake.

Xander hadn't even gotten all the way down the stairs before he got the nagging feeling he'd forgotten something. He returned to his room and peered under the bed. A wave of ozone met him as tiny strands of energy arced on the silver-and-ebony metal of the Stormhammer. Slightly hesitant, he reached out, his fingers not quite meeting the handle.

"Oh, to _hell _with it.." he muttered darkly before snatching the mace. Three minutes later he had the weapon neatly strapped across his back as he reached the street, headed for Willow's house.

Xander found the fact the weight of the weapon on his back felt comforting only slightly disturbing.

----

Xander estimated the time was somewhere between ten and eleven AM. Everything was deathly silent as he ran through the streets as fast as he could. The sun was shining, it looked like the beginning of a beautiful day.. but all Sunnydale except him was unnervingly still. The dead birds and other small animals scattered around town didn't help the eerie feeling he had at all either.

He finally reached the Rosenberg house with its immaculately trimmed hedges and lawn. His 'knock' probably shook the windows at the back of the house as he banged the door with a fist.

"Hello? Anybody home?"

There was no answer from within. Belatedly Xander realized there was no car in sight, which meant that Willow was probably home alone. He knocked and shouted one more time before digging out the spare key from the flowerpot next to the door. The door opened easily and silently.

"Willow? Are you here?"

Absolute silence rang in the house. When Xander reached Willow's room he found the door locked securely.

"Wills? You in there?"

There was no answer.

"Willow?"

Unnerved, Xander tried the door one last time to no avail. He unclipped the Stormhammer, feeling the mace vibrate ever-so-slightly in his hands.

"Look, Willow, if you're in there I'm going to open this door in five seconds. One.. two.. three.."

_..and if she's not in there.. well, it won't be the first time I've made a complete idiot of myself._

"..four.. five.. I'm coming in, Wills!"

He hefted the Stormhammer once, then swung at the lock. There was a sharp crack of splintering wood and twisting metal followed by a thud as he gave the door a swift kick where the handle had been, nearly taking it off its hinges.

"Wills?"

Xander could barely make out a familiar shock of coppery hair buried under what seemed like a mountain of blankets. She was lying still, so pale that for one heart-wrenching moment Xander thought the worst. Only when he reached out and gently sought the artery on her neck with his fingers he found a pulse. Her skin felt cold and clammy and to the touch, her pulse was slow and faint.. she was still breathing but so slowly it was hard to tell. Her skin was extremely pale, nearly white, and Xander thought he saw a faint greenish tint on it.

"Oh no, Wills, what's wrong with you.."

She _reeked _of illness, Xander realized. The faint smell he had felt outside was now strong, a sickening bittersweet tang in the air that felt _wrong._ He could practically smell the sickness creeping in her blood with every taxed heartbeat. He felt a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the air as he came to a sudden realization; for some reason the disease or whatever had taken Willow down had not affected him, but.. what if the rest of Sunnydale was like this?

----

Xander had never felt this helpless in his life. He must have broken several land speed records running through town only to find Buffy and Giles in no better condition than Willow. Even Oz, now back in his human form, was down, still in his cage. Whatever had happened had been quick. The _really _frightening part was that Buffy was down as well. Slayers were supposed to be unaffected by simple diseases, mostly because of their rapid healing, but now.. if the sickness was powerful enough to take Buffy out, why was he still standing?

_Stupid question, _Xander berated himself. _I've got the spectral remains of an inhuman warrior stuck in my head and a thunder-enchanted mace. I'd bet my shirt and boots Skye was immune to diseases too.. which means most likely I'm the only one unaffected save for vampires and demons. Just peachy._

That train of thought lead Xander to a worrisome conclusion. If he was the only one unaffected.. only he could figure out what had caused this mysterious plague and how to put an end to it. Sighing, Xander closed his eyes and focused, reaching out with his Xander-sense.

Xander couldn't help flinching as a sense of taint washed over him. It felt like he'd fallen into a cesspool.. the very air itself was filled with a sickening sense of _illness _that made his skin crawl. Tiny particles of shadow danced in the air around him.. but where they touched his skin they flickered out and disappeared like they'd never existed. Every little current of air sent the particles swirling and spinning, a deadly cloud of pestilence he could almost taste.

Xander swallowed hard and reached farther out, seeking anything- _anything-_ that could hint at the possible source. North, east, south.. Nothing except tiny concentrations of vamps and other demons hiding from the scorching rays of the sun. But to the west.. He could sense a writhing dark mass of _something_ at the very edge of his range.. the disease particles much more dense there. Streams of the shadowy particles flowed outwards from it, spreading in a network of tubes all over the town and up to the streets.. through manholes. Whatever it was had to be in the sewers.

----

The manhole cover lifted slowly, nearly reluctantly with a gritting sound of metal against concrete. Grunting, Xander shoved it aside and strapped the crowbar he'd 'borrowed' from their garage back onto his shoulders. The stairs to the bottom seemed like they descended directly into a gaping dark maw as he peered in, armed to the teeth with holy water, stakes, several blades and the mace that thrummed a soft purring noise on his back.

"When I wanted to be able to help.. this isn't exactly what I had in mind."

----

**I know, eeevil cliffhanger. I'm sorry updating has taken so long but I've had some real-life issues to deal with- namely school finals, other hobbies and certain technical problems. The next chapter should be coming out much faster, I promise. I just hope I haven't scared away all my readers. Anyway, onto Review Responses:**

**Ronin100:** I'm glad you liked it so far, and I'm sorry for not updating sooner. Skye is indeed an original character- in fact, one of my first and probably my favorite one. Thanks for reviewing.

**Shinigami-chan: **I'm glad you like this. I've been considering posting some of those earlier stories but it seems like I've gotten stuck in most if not all of them- I have the first one or two chapters of at least a dozen different stories from various fandoms collecting virtual dust on my hard drive… By the way, doesn't 'Shinigami-chan' translate into 'Little Goddess of Death'?

**ESR: **You'll get to read the rest just as soon as I can coerce it out of my head and onto the keyboard. Thank you for reviewing.

**Lwbush: **I haven't exactly been a fan of the idea of 'instant change' myself so this choice came to me quite naturally. This also allows me to roll out the changes one or two by one, which, I believe, is more comfortable for the reader. You have no idea how many good fics I've seen ruined by a few 'WTF just happened?!' moments in the wrong places. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story as soon as I can write more.

**Dogbertcarroll: **I'm glad you enjoyed this and I can only hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. I myself think that Chapter 1 was the most successful one, although I had fun with chapter 2 as well.

**Suzuka Blade:** I hope you liked this chapter as well. Mmmm.. chocolate. breaks off a piece while giving the plushies next to the monitor a fond look

**Skygirl: **Right now. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.

**Lil-sis4556: **I'm glad you liked it. Skye is an original character loosely based on the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons system who I have been, so far, unsuccessful in recreating in any game system. He's been in a few so far unpublished fanfics so I'm unsurprised you don't recognize him. All shall be cleared in due time.


	5. Chapter 5

Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

Chapter 5

There was a splash as Xander dropped down the last few feet, greenish-brown muck covering his boots. His first breath promptly made him feel sick; a horrible stench of rotten and rotting various unmentionable substances struck his enhanced senses almost like a physical blow. He winced and covered the lower half of his face with his hands, only barely smothering the urge to claw at his nose to make the burning stop. The combination of the stench and the strengthened sense of darkness around him was nearly enough to stun him for a moment before he forced himself to take shallow breaths and move on.

The tunnel had, at some time, been lit with small electric lights at steady intervals along the grimy concrete walls. Now, however, only roughly one of three was actually lit. The poor lighting created flickering shadows on the walls. The floor was covered with an ankle-deep layer of viscous muck that made sick bubbling and slurping sounds under his boots, sticking on every step as Xander made his way west towards the core of the darkness he sensed.

The deeper he ventured into the labyrinthine sewers of Sunnydale the fewer actually working lights there were. Dimly lit at best, sections of the sewer tunnels were shrouded in near-complete darkness. It was in the middle of one of these darker sections that something finally happened. One moment Xander was walking down the tunnel, squinting to see through the shadows.. the next he was clutching his head in agony, a sickening wave of nausea washing over him. His eyes hurt like they were on fire; he swayed and had to lean on the sewer wall to keep from falling face-down into the muck.

Slowly, gradually, the pain in his eyes abated into a dull throbbing sensation. Gasping for breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, Xander opened his eyes to find the world changed right before them. He slowly stood to a more upright position staring at his now-grimy hands.. hands that were glowing a dim, dull crimson.

"What the.."

Xander looked up to see the entire tunnel bathed in a faint red glow. The entire world was a mess of red and black, with the tunnel walls the darkest black and his skin the brightest.

…Some kind of innate night vision? Freaky. Handy, but freaky.

His eyes tingling, he shook his head and kept on wading through the tunnel. Night vision or no, freaky or not.. Willow and Buffy were depending on him, he had work to do, and now he could see properly again.

Had Xander had a mirror at that very moment he would've seen his eyes had changed.. the gold had spread out entirely so that no whites could be seen, and the pupils.. they were like a cat's, dilated until they were almost but not quite round, and glowing a faint eerie red.

-

Considering the size of Sunnydale's Undead population and their aversity to sunlight, the sewers were bound to have several vampire nests.. all of which would consider a lone Human a tasty snack. Therefore it was only a matter of time before Xander stumbled upon one of them.. or in this case, they stumbled upon him.

Xander entered a large chamber where several tunnels just like the one he had come from connected to. He had sensed at least five vampires in the chamber long before entering; according to his Xander-sense this was the most direct route to his ultimate destination, however, and he had better things to do than waste time trying to find an alternate route when the others needed him. In typical vampire fashion these apparently figured that Xander was alone, unaware of their presence, weak, and therefore easy pickings.

Unluckily for the vampires, Xander was both aware of their presence and prepared for them. Even if the chamber itself was dark Xander could both see the vampires, glowing faint red in his eyes against the black walls, and could pinpoint them accurately with his other senses. The first vampire to attack him learned that the hard way; hissing, it rushed at him, only to crumble into dust with Xander's stake struck directly through its lifeless heart.

The loss of their companion didn't deter the other vampires a bit as they decided to try and overwhelm him, the sewer muck splashing high from their footsteps. A feral grin tugging at his lips, Xander waited to the last possible second before ducking to the left, away from the vampires' path. He had to bite back a chuckle when they stumbled, finding only empty air where he had stood moments before.

"Come _on_, is that all you've got?"

Though he couldn't see any details Xander was pretty sure all four vampires had a murderous expression on when they turned to face him again. Xander couldn't resist the oppoturnity to taunt them.

"I've heard that sewer rats can grow huge but this is fricken' ridiculous!"

One of the vampires growled at him. "I'm going to rip your head off and use it as a football, human!"

Xander's grin was devoid of all warmth, baring his sharp teeth. "Feel free to try, fangface. I've got no time for this- walk away now and you will exist to see the next moonrise."

The vampires roared and rushed at him again. Xander snorted and unclipped the Stormhammer. "Didn't think so."

Xander sidestepped the first vampire easily and gave a massive swing with the mace; the enchanted weapon vibrated in his hands with an audible thrum as the vampire shrieked when Xander hit its shoulder. The mace seemed to glow brightly to his eyes; he heard a faint hissing sound from the vampire and guessed correctly the wounds left behind by the mace were scorched and smoking faintly. Before the vampire could react Xander struck again, the silvery thorns scoring several deep scratches into the vampire's face. Wailing in pain, it pressed its hands against its wounded face.. leaving an opening for Xander to sink a stake into its chest.

There was a growl as one of the vampires swung at him; Xander ducked and spun, taking the feet from under it with a heavy boot. It made a splash that sprayed stinking grime everywhere as it landed. His spin made him face another vampire; Xander gave it a feral grin, his eyes blazing a deep crimson. Sensing a dark presence behind him, he leapt to the side a split second before the vampire that had leapt at him from behind would have made contact with him. It slammed into the first vampire with full force and took them down in a hissing and growling tangle of limbs. His hand found a handle at his side and Xander ducked a punch before slashing with his shortsword with lethal accuracy. The suddenly headless vampire exploded into dust.

Xander grinned and turned to face the two vampires that were now trying to climb up. He snatched a stake off his belt and stabbed; the top vampire exploded into dust and before the bottom one could react Xander had grabbed it by the throat with an iron grip and slammed it against the grimy wall. It grabbed his wrist with both hands and tried to twist it.. right until Xander punched it into the face with enough power to stun an ox. It made a strangled noise, feet dangling a good foot off the floor.

Xander gave it a chilling smirk and held up the Stormhammer with his right hand- the left was squeezed around the vampire's windpipe. Arcs of lightning jolted on the metal as the mace gave a low thrumming purr.

"I warned you, fangboy.. now talk. There's a demon nest of some sort west of here- and you're going to tell me everything you know about it or I dust you here and now."

The vampire grabbed his wrist again. Xander raised the mace in warning and the vampire gulped audibly, letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Could- could you be more precise? There are at least a dozen nests out- urrk!"

Xander recognized the voice and realized that ironically enough the vampire was the very same that had threatened him. _O how the mighty have fallen.._

"This is a new one- three, maybe four days old at most. Cough it up."

The vamp made a nervous chuckle. "Ohh, _that _one.. she showed up about two days ago. Hasn't come out except when Charlie decided to see if he could get some cash in exchange for protection. Never liked the guy myself, good riddance."

Xander narrowed his eyes. "What kind of demon is she? How far is the nest?"

"I don't know, I never saw her myself! She's about a mile west from here, you can't miss it! Now lemmego!"

Xander snorted and let go, stepping back. The vampire fell with a splash, then stood up and slunk away. About twenty steps away from Xander it turned back and yelled at him. "You haven't heard the las-"

There was a soft 'poof'-ing noise and a splash as a stake fell into the muck amidst a cloud of ash where the vampire had stood. Xander gave a derisive snort and shook his head.

"Idiot."

For a moment he considered trying to find the stakes amidst the sludge, then decided it wasn't worth the effort. He clipped the mace back to its rightful place, slipped the shortsword back into its scabbard, and pushed on towards west.. and whatever demon lay in wait for him there.

-

Slowly the air in the sewer was turning warm and dry. The stench of rot and sewage was now overlain with something that made the hair on Xander's neck stand up.. the smell of death and disease, the foul aroma of illness Xander had smelled around Willow but far, far stromger. If he concentrated on his Xander-sense the disease particles were a dense torrent around him, driven away from the nest and into the streets by the warm gust he could feel on his skin. The walls, he realized, were now not covered with sewer slime but a tough, rubbery substance his vision interpreted black but Xander assumed to be dark green; when touched it felt cold and clammy to the touch like dead skin. At some places it was smooth and glossy but at some places the texture was kind of wavy, almost ribbed.. it gave him the uncomfortable feeling of being inside something living and breathing.

A strange sense of deja-vu washed over him.. he could imagine Skye standing in a dark corridor, the walls covered with black, hard, chitinous resin, the man examining the wall with the same distaste he felt now. The stench of blood and death and something acrid and burning filled the air as the man turned to look at someone beyond Xander's field of vision._We must go now. We beat them back for now but they will return soon._

_I know, beloved. Come, let us leave this foul den of Shadow, a melodic female voice answered him._ Although Xander had never heard never heard the speaker before he knew the woman had meant much for Skye.. more than anything else.

"I stand by your side.." Xander echoed the last of the memory fragment, then shook his head to clear the stupor. Unlike the previous ones, this one had not been painful at all.. it had just left behind an increased feel of wariness. Whatever horrors Skye and his companion had faced earlier had left behind a deep dislike of areas like the one he was in now.

As he watched a part of the.. whatever happened to cover the wall seemed to bulge slightly outwards. Xander tensed, ready for anything as the substance seemed to bubble; at first the bulge was the size of a grape, then a ping-pong-ball, an apple.. it swelled up to the size of a grapefruit before popping like a diseased cyst. A this dust filled the air, taken away by the gust. As the resin smoothened again where the 'bubble' had been Xander realized that the 'dust' had been spores of some kind.. probably of the very disease that had taken over the city. Xander bared his teeth in a low growl and straightened up, determined to head into the demon nest.

He would've felt much better if the walls didn't occasionally have pits and niches in them large enough for something roughly human-sized to hide in, though. He hated jumping at shadows.

-

He was close now, the air warm and thick with the smell of disease, the walls covered in a layer of hardened resin.. Xander could feel the presence of the demon nearby as a dark pressure on his mind even when he was not actively trying to sense it. Reaching out, he could sense it as a mass of darkness closeby.. swarms of disease particles surrounded it like a vortex, flowing outwards and into the sewers. Streams of brilliant energy conjoined near it, outlining a large chamber. From the amount of live high voltage cables within Xander assumed the room was some kind of a maintenance chamber for the local section of Sunnydale's power network.

He could see a faint pulsing light at the end of the tunnel (the pun was entirely unintentional) that seemed to brighten on every step he took. Slowly his eyes began to tingle in warning; moments later a burning sensation shot through them. Hissing in surprise, Xander closed and rubbed them; when he opened them again he could see normally.

He felt the demon presence much stronger now as he neared the end of the tunnel; the light he had seen was coming from behind the corner. Careful to not make any sound, Xander leaned on the wall and peered cautiously through.

The tunnel made a steep incline just after the corner to keep the sewer muck out. The floor, walls and ceilings were all covered with a thick layer of dark brownish-green resin that seemed to flake into dust in places; the dust was taken away by the wind blowing through the sewer. Beyond the incline the tunnel opened into a large chamber, lit with fluorescent tubes hanging from the ceiling. He could barely make out a lone figure in the rear of the nest. A short check with his Xander-sense didn't hint at any others within.

Xander took a deep breath and drew himself to his full height; checking his weapons, he thought of Willow, Buffy, Giles and others above and steeled himself for anything. The stakes and holy water attached to the belt slung across his shoulder were all set and ready; the Stormhammer was a comforting weigh on his back, seemingly thrumming with anticipation.

This is it, folks. The Scoobies are counting on me.. I can't fail. I **won't** fail.

-

Xander did his best to ignore the growing sense of deja-vu as he entered the actual hive. The resin gave ever so slightly underneath his boots, softening his footfalls; the disease particles swirled in a vortex around him as he drew the Stormhammer and approached the demon. It had its back towards him at first, kneeled to manipulate something on the ground, but as he got closer it stood up and turned to face him.

The vampire had called it 'her' but _this_ had not been exactly what Xander had had in mind. He estimated her height was slightly taller than Willow, with a humanoid body. Her skin had a sickly greenish tint to it and the same resin that covered the walls seemed to stick to her as well, covering her skin like a shell that gleamed almost like metal. The resin around her fingers seemed harder that normal, sharpened into glittering claws. Her all too delicate human face and dark hair would have made her look like a sixteen- maybe seventeen-year old girl except for her eyes, which were colored an unnatural red. She seemed almost too fragile or harmless to be a threat but Xander knew better than to trust first impressions on the Hellmouth. He could sense waves of darkness and disease flowing outwards from her as she looked at him with a kind of idle curiosity like one would give an unusual insect of some sort.

"How did you get here, _mortal?_ You should be in a coma by now." Her voice was unnaturally deep for someone her size, vibrating through the chamber and sending shivers down his spine. A part of him- the Skye part- was practically screaming 'Danger!' at him.

"I'm an ornery bastard like that. _You _are the one responsible for the plague."

A single thin eyebrow rose. "Perceptive, are you? I assume you came down here to stop me.. like a mere _human _could stop me."

Xander made a rumbling sound in his throat. A memory was surfacing again; it felt rather like someone had opened a door in his mind and let stuff out. He could feel rage building up inside him, ready to explode into actin.

"I _know_ of you and your _ilk, _plaguelord, servant of Chaos. You can bleed, you can die.. only one of us will leave this place alive." The words were coming to Xander unbidden as he raised his free hand to point at the demon. The Stormhammer crackled and hummed in his hand, the handle feeling warm and almost living to the touch. "You have no place here, banished one; the moment you set foot on these grounds you were doomed. Such has the Dragon Lord decreed and so shall it be- _thou and thine kind shall fall!"_

The demon's face twisted into a mask of fury; it screamed of rage, a horrible screeching sound that reverberated through the chamber, and made a grasping motion with its cloven hands.

"Die, fool!"

The walls came alive. The resin cracked and splintered; dozens of groping tendrils shot through the cracks and reached for Xander, hardened clawlike tips gleaming. Xander rolled out or the way, the tentacles slamming into the floor where he had stood a split second before. In an impossibly fluid move he snatched a stake from his belt and hurled it; it spun through the air and would have hit with lethal accuracy if not for the thick carapace of hardened resin covering her chest. The stake hit it with a solid _thwack_ and bounced off, the tip dulled and splintered from the impact.

She shrieked again and motioned with her hands and the tendrils came back; Xander ducked and parried, then snatched his shortsword and slashed. The blow cleaved one of the tentacles into two; greenish-black ichor flowed from the stump as it was drawn back inside the wall. The remaining tentacles trashed and squirmed in a sickening pattern. Xander hopped, ducked and rolled, weaving his way through the flailing mass, slashing and cleaving through the mass of twisting flesh. A deep growl rose from his chest as he snatched a dagger from his belt and threw it at the demon. A tentacle snapped out and struck it out of the air; at the same time one managed to breach his defenses and scored a slash to his left upper arm. Xander hissed in pain as he felt the wound burn; it was shallow, little more than a scratch, but it was bleeding.. and a black substance from the tentacle had been spilt onto the wound. The whole arm felt cold and numb; for a moment he had to concentrate on dodging any other attacks.

The demon laughed, a sinister cackle that made the hairs on his neck stand up. "_Fool!_ The venom will make short work of you!"

Xander growled, a deep rumbling sound from his chest more felt than heard; the wound was itching furiously now, but the feeling was slowly returning to the limb. He ducked a stabbing tentacle, clipped the Stormhammer back to his back, jumped over a low swing, wiped the gunk from the wound with a free hand and drew the Stormhammer again just in time to parry another blow.

"You have no power over me!"

The demon narrowed its eyes and made a shooing motion. The tentacles came at him again, but this time Xander was ready; instead of backing off or ducking to the side he took a couple of running steps forward and leaped directly into the writhing mass. Whatever move the demon had been anticipating, this definitely was not it; Xander barreled right through the tentacle mass and slammed into the demon with full force. Before she could react Xander swung the Stormhammer with all his might. The blow hurled the demon clear across the chamber and halfway up the wall where she slid down in an almost comical fashion. The shell of resin had held but only barely; a network of cracks ran out from the point of impact on her side. The tentacles fell slack, then withdrew into the wall.

The demon picked herself up and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. Her eyes widened when the hand came back stained with a thick black liquid.

"You.. HURT ME!"

Xander's fangs glittered. "You can bleed. You can die."

Her eyes lit up with a fierce red glow and she leapt at Xander; at the same time Xander released a low growl and pounced. They collided midair with a jarring thud and fell into a tangle of claws and fists. Xander did his best to avoid getting those claws anywhere near his face while trying to concentrate his attacks on her already weakened side. Suddenly something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him off her; Xander looked back and struck with the Stormhammer, messily severing the tentacle, but too late; she had already righted herself and the walls were alive with cablelike tendrils again. This time they seemed to be much more coordinated and careful; Xander had to keep ducking and weaving to avoid being hit, often dodging several simultaneous attacks from different sides. This time Xander knew what he had to do; apparently she had to keep actively commanding the tentacles. If he could distract her long enough to get to her..

Another tentacle swept at him and was promptly severed. Xander grabbed some stakes and hurled them at her in rapid succession; as he had expected several tentacles doubled back to deflect the projectiles. The stakes were followed by daggers, some vials of holy water, and finally.. Xander changed his grip on the handle of the Stormhammer and hurled it. It spun through the air with a graceful arc, humming all the way. Like with the previous missiles, a tentacle moved to intercept it.

There was a sharp crackling, sizzling noise and a flash of blue as the tentacle touched the mace; suddenly all the tentacles were twitching and jerking uncontrollably as the demon shrieked of pain. Xander saw his chance, leapt over a flailing tendril and delivered a crushing kick that tossed the demon on her back. The cracks on her resin armor widened; small bits of the green shell were now flaking and splintering off. She snarled and kicked out, throwing Xander away from her. She was stronger than she looked; Xander rolled and skidded and finally came to a halt near the opposite wall. The walls rippled again and a new set of tentacles emerged. Xander's eyes widened; he had his shortsword but the Stormhammer was lying on the floor too far for his liking, still sparking with energy.

The tentacles headed for him and he scrambled up, headed for the mace and desperately dodging the tendrils.

Oh comeoncomeoncomeon..

Instinctively he held a hand out at the mace; a single word ran through his mind. "_Thrall!"_

The Stormhammer suddenly quivered on the floor and shot through the air at his outstretched hand. Xander snatched it out of the air, surprised and pleased at the same time. _Thrall_, a memory fragment whispered in his head, was Skye's language for 'come', and one of the command words for the mace.

Growling wildly, he spun and struck at the reaching tentacles; thunder crackled through the mace, forming a white-blue halo of energy around it. Where it hit the tentacles it left blackened and charred marks that smoked faintly. A red haze enveloped his senses as the growl escalated into a rumbling feral snarl filled with anger and rage. His swings turned faster, stronger, more instinctive as the rage burnt through him; it was like fire and ice coursing through his veins.

The tentacles retreated under this new assault.. then began coiling together. Originally roughly as thick as a man's wrist, they flexed and entwined to form fewer but thicker tendrils that resembled tree trunks as they swung at him. The entire chamber shook as one of the tentacles struck the ground where he had stood mere moments ago, sending bits of green resin and black liquid flying everywhere.

Xander was a whirlwind of thunder and destruction, dodging attacks with liquid grace and attacking with an unnerving ferocity. Droplets of thick black blood sprayed the air as he landed a good blow with the Stormhammer; the steady drone of the mace had turned into a low roar like distant thunder, growing moment by moment, blow by blow. Sweat flowed freely as he crushed an incoming tentacle practically into wet pulp, the stump quivering and bleeding profusely.

There was a screech of pain and fury and one of the tentacles came down with enough force to crush a car. Xander managed to dodge that one.. but not the smaller tentacle that followed. The impact hurled him clear across the room and into the wall.. he hit it hard enough to by all rights crush every bone in a normal Human body. Something in the resin next to him gave way with a screech of crumpling metal.

"Now, mortal, I have you!"

Xander could sense the pulse of power from next to him and realized he had almost hit a switchbox of some type nearly buried in the resin.. an active switch box if the blue sparks were any indication.

"No" Xander growled, raising the Stormhammer, "just _DIE!"_

The mace found its mark and tore its way through the metal shell of the box. Power flowed through the metal into the mace and Xander's hand. The mace flared a brilliant blue-white blinding light as the energy gathered in Xander's body and found a release.

Electricity crackled on his skin and gathered to his outstretched hand. The entire chamber shook in the roar of superheated air as an arc of blinding energy lanced forth from his palm; the demon screeched in pain as the tentacles crumpled into dust around them.

-

The Stormhammer sent a final surge of power through him and flickered out; Xander stumbled forward and yanked the mace off the wall, breaking the connection. By all laws or Nature he should have been extra-crispy by now.. but his clothes and skin were unmarked except for the faint streams of steam rising from his body. An incredibly thick smell of ozone and burning filled the air; piles of dust and ashes, the only remains of the tentacles, littered the ground. The demon was lying its back directly in the middle of a large scorch mark on the floor, at least twenty feet away from where it had stood just before the thunderbolt had hit it.

Most of the resin armor was shattered or missing; the remaining parts were blackened and burnt. Every bit of skin he could see was blistered and burnt, weeping black blood. Xander would have thought her dead if not for the low moan she gave when he approached.

The sense of darkness Xander received from her was dimming rapidly as he kneeled by her side, the Stormhammer at the ready. Her black hair was scorched but her face was mostly unmarked except for a thin trail of blood flowing from the side of her mouth. Xander leaned over her; she made a groaning noise and opened her eyes..

Her _blue _eyes.

Xander flinched and recoiled. Demon or not, she looked war too much like a wounded Human girl to his liking.

"What.. where…"

She even sounded human now. The feeling of darkness flickered and faded more rapidly; her eyes were searching but clouded with a thin milky veil Xander recognized as the one thing that comes to all living things.

"..hurts.. daddy"

Xander's eyes widened. _Oh sweet God no. Not now, please.. not a human host!_

She shivered; Xander couldn't help but leaning closer. The cold truth hit him like a physical blow. According to a memory fragment plaguelords took on human form.. by infecting a human host.

"Shhh.. it'll be over soon.." Inwards Xander raged at cruel fate; outwards he had to fight to keep his voice steady.

"cold.. scared.."

Xander cupped her face in his hands. "Don't be. Sleep now.. let go."

Her eyes were now glazed almost entirely over; Xander cradled her head in his lap as she shivered agan.

"..I see.. ..the eye.."

She shivered again and stilled. Xander gently swept two of his fingers over her eyes, closing them. A low keening noise welled up in his throat. He gently set her down and picked himself up.

Moments later a call of pure rage and sorrow echoed through the tunnel network. Vampires and demons alike shivered and wondered _who_ had pissed _what_ off.

-

Whew. Eight pages and nearly five thousand words in one chapter. I'm on a roll.

Layce74: Thank you!

Dogbertcarroll: I'm glad you liked it.


	6. Chapter 6

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Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

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Chapter 6

Xander sighed and leaned backwards, resting his back on the library wall. Last night had been rough, both physically and mentally. Thankfully most of his cuts and bruises were healing or healed already.. Apparently his Skye essence granted him a faster-than-normal healing factor and an enhanced immunity system. He'd been practically covered in the disease spores when he'd finally crawled up from the sewers, completely exhausted, but otherwise he appeared to have been unaffected by the plaguelord's influence.. even the cut on his upper arm had faded into an angry red that would probably leave a scar but seemed to be healed nicely enough despite the poison plaguelord tentacles secreted.

The death of the plaguelord had had the effect Xander had hoped for.. without the nexus to spread and control it the disease had died off without further ado. The Scoobies had been up some ten hours after the fight in the sewers.. although most had been throwing up green slime for a good hour after that, the remains of the demonic infestation that had nearly claimed them.

__

All's well that ends well, they say, Xander thought. _If only the price would not have to have been so high.._

Power tingled underneath his skin and he bit back a curse, concentrating on forcing the energy welling inside him back down. Ever since the fight.. ever since he had blasted the demon away.. At first he'd thought he was feeling the remains of the energy he'd channeled through his body to form the thunderbolt.. but he already knew it wasn't so. Something formerly dormant within him was now active.. he could feel it as a constant itch he couldn't scratch as energy steadily built up within his body. Sometimes it would well up and he'd have to concentrate on suppressing it. The first time he'd used the energy he'd created a lightning bolt roughly powerful enough to power Las Vegas for a minute or two.. he didn't dare to release it again anywhere near someone. He didn't need any more lives on his conscience.

__

Xander gently set the lifeless body down and stood up, a strange keening noise welling up in his throat for a moment. Streams of blue-white energy crawled upon his skin as he gave in to the impulse and tossed his head backwards.

The long beastly call of pure rage and mourn had nothing human left in it.

Lightning crackled around him in a destructive aura as he took the first step out of the former hive. Behind him there was a faint rustling sound; he did not need to look to know her dead flesh was rapidly drying and crumbling into thin greenish dust, leaving only a blackened skeleton behind.

He could not even grant her a proper burial.

Something gave within him and Xander **roared**, the inhuman sound resounding through the chamber like a thunderclap. There was a grinding noise from behind; then the chamber shook as a large stone fell from the ceiling, quickly followed by a second one. The moment he had cleared the cavernous room the ground shook beneath him as the entire chamber collapsed.

For a moment he thought the gust of wind made by the collapsing room sounded like a relieved sigh.

He could hear the footsteps approaching and smell the approaching presence long before they could see him. Xander took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.

"…Xander?"

He opened his eyes. "Hey, Willow." She was still pale, but the stench of death and disease was gone, replaced with her normal scent.. although she smelled more like of cinnamon and strawberries with her perfume. Sometimes his sense of smell was so good it was scary.

"..So, you wanted to see me?"

Xander sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I did.. c'mon, let's go somewhere more private. There's something I need to tell you. Alone."

Willow gave him an odd look at that but followed him to the deepest corner of the library nevertheless. It was with deepest anxiousness that Xander finally sat down with her in a small niche near the storage.

"Willow.." Funny how he'd practiced his little speech in his mind for hours and still he was lost for words with the real deal. "There's something I need to tell you. I don't know how to say this.. I should've told you before but it took me time to realize this could be my best chance."

Willow nodded, her face clouded with worry.

"Xander.."

He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "What I'm about to tell you.. I haven't told anyone about this before. Not Giles, or Buffy, or Oz.. _anyone._ I need you to swear you won't tell anybody else of this.. Lives could depend on it, my life, your life, or anyone we know could be in danger if the wrong people learn of this."

Now she looked almost frightened. "Xander, what.."

"_Swear, _Willow. Swear by the Wiccan Goddess, swear by your blood or by your hand, but make a vow you would never betray. Willow, please.."

Willow looked him in the eyes for a long while.. then she stood up with steel in her voice and posture. "By the Goddess, this I swear: No word shall leave my mortal lips, for good or ill. So let it be, and may it harm none."

Xander took a deep breath and sighed. "Thank you.. Then, take a seat and make yourself comfortable.. this could take a while. You remember this Halloween, when I was…"

¤¤¤

It seemed the more he spoke the easier it was for him to go on. Thankfully Willow kept silent, watching with an undecipherable expression at first as he told her of the confusing first few days after Halloween.. finding he was growing stronger and faster day by day.. the flashes of memories that sometimes left him unaware of where he was.. He omitted nothing, embellished nothing, told everything just as he remembered.

By the time he told of his encounter with Drusilla Willow's eyes had grown roughly to the size of saucers with something from between curiosity and fear; his following dream or vision or whatever of Skye left her looking thoughtful. He told her how he'd bound the Stormhammer to himself.. then he got to how he woke up that one morning and found whole Sunnydale except himself under the cursed plague. He faltered there for a moment before Willow ushered him to go on.. it was almost painful reliving the trek through the sewers, and the fight that followed it.. It felt impossible to describe the rage that had flowed over him, or the feeling of power when he'd turned himself into a live converter, and the aftermath of the fight.. it hurt in a way he couldn't understand himself.

Finally he fell silent and, after a moment of silence, dared to look at Willow. He'd expected top see fear or loathing.. what he hadn't expected was the tingle of sympathy he saw in her eyes moments before she traced his cheekbone, now much thicker and sturdier than before, with a gentle hand.

"All this time.. I thought you were just growing up."

Xander could feel the power surging beneath his skin again and clamped down onto it, forcing it to steady down. Tiny arcs of lightning formed for a second between his fingers, sliding along the skin, before Willow drew her hand back.

"You.. aren't afraid?"

"Terrified," Willow dryly admitted, "the shock just hasn't quite gotten through yet. Why didn't you tell us, Xander?"

Xander sighed and closed his eyes. "At first.. I hoped it would pass, that it was just fading more slowly than with you and Buffy. Then I was happy I was finally stronger, finally more useful in the good fight.. I was afraid you'd stop this, that you'd take it away. Finally I was afraid _you'd_ be afraid of _me_ when the changes became more pronounced."

Willow shook her head. "You should've told us, Xander.. we could've helped you. You were possessed before by the Hyena, remember?"

"This isn't like back then, Willow. I'm still Xander, just.. different. Skye doesn't control me like Hyena did.. in fact, since I got Skye.. or what's left of him.. 'up here'.. I haven't even felt the remains of Hyena's influence. Besides, trying to remove what's left of him wouldn't work- '_What has been molded together cannot be split apart without destroying both', _remember?"

Willow sighed and leaned back. "This is important, Xander. I think we should tell Giles about this, he could-"

__

"No." The power tingled under his skin again, making the single word sound more like a short rumbling growl. Xander shook his head and cleared his throat at Willow's incredulous expression. "I mean no, Willow- I can't tell anybody else yet. The fewer people know of this the better. If we tell Giles, we might as well tell Buffy- he's her Watcher, he's bound to tell. And, don't get me wrong, I like Buffy, I'm her friend and all, but her impulse control could _really_ use some working on. You swore to keep silent of this, Willow, now I'm asking you to keep that vow."

"That's not fair, Xander, making me swear before telling me what this was about!" Willow accused.

Xander held back a wince and closed his eyes. "And I hate myself for it already. I'm sorry, Willow, I really am, but this was the only way. You've got to understand."

Willow sighed. "Why me, Xander? Why'd you decide to tell me?"

Xander rubbed his eyes. "Because.. I remember some of the things Skye did. He did the same mistake before, Wills- he kept his true self hidden from someone close to him, and it backfired." He opened his eyes and nailed Willow with his a near-desperate look. "She was hurt real bad, Willow.. he almost got her killed." _The sound of steel against steel, a heart-shattering scream of pain and horror.. the splash of a body hitting cold, dark water and the beastly roar of ultimate wrath and loss.._

Xander shivered at the memory fragment before continuing. The power churned beneath his skin, stirred by the memory. "Sometimes.. I see someone on the street or in a store and I.. I think they're someone Skye knew. For a moment they look like.. I don't know. Sometimes.. I miss her, Willow. I keep telling myself that it's stupid, that it's because of Skye, but I can't help it. I don't even know her name, what she looks like, but.. Gods how I miss her. I.. I needed someone to know, someone to understand. I need someone I can speak with. I need someone to stay behind when I leave."

Willow blinked. "You're leaving?"

Xander shrugged. "Not now.. I can't leave you to deal with Angelus by yourselves, but after this.. Maybe. Uncle Ned's got a cottage somewhere in the mountains, far away from people.. I could go there to try and learn to control this. That way the only one who can get hurt will be me. Someone will have to know so that Buffy won't decide to drag me back here then." He sighed again before continuing.

"I just thought.. you're the smartest one of us, Willow, you would've figured this out by yourself after a while.. this way I don't have to hurt you as well by keeping this a secret. And.."

"…And?"

"..I need someone who won't be afraid of me when this is over."

¤¤¤

It was almost two AM and he couldn't sleep. Lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling without actually seeing anything, Xander sighed for what seemed the hundredth time that night and tried to will himself to feel sleepy with no success. It wasn't that he weren't feeling tired or anything.. consciously he knew he had been up for the last eighteen-or-something hours straight and, logically, his body needed the rest. Illogically enough, his body had now apparently decided it didn't need to rest this particular night.

Something was coming.. Xander could feel it. He could sense how the power flowing within his body was building up in anticipation so.. something. Whatever it was, somehow it felt _natural.._ nothing like a demon, completely unlike the sense of smothering darkness of the Hellmouth.. somehow he knew whatever was coming _needed_ to be there.. and he could feel it approaching.

The power pulsed faintly and Xander tensed. Moments later his ears picked up a distant rippling crack. He got up slowly and opened his window, feeling the cold wind against the bare skin of his chest and shoulders. The air smelled heavy and moist as he climbed out onto the roof and looked up.

He could feel the power pulse again milliseconds before there was a distant bluish-white flash somewhere to the west. Moments later there was a second rippling crack that broke into a long, drawn-out rumble. The wind picked up ever-so slightly as he looked up into the dark sky, knowing the clouds above would be dark and heavy. _It was here._

A single droplet of cold liquid hit his shoulder and made its way down his side before falling off to hit the roof somewhere near his foot. It was soon followed by a second one, then a third, fourth..

Power surged beneath his skin, tingling in his hands as the clouds overhead were lit up by a blast of white light, followed by a clap of thunder that shook the tiles beneath his feet. The heavens opened with water, heavy, large droplets splattering against his skin and the roof. The wind was a living, breathing thing around him, swirling, pulsing, flowing around him and through the deserted streets as the storm revealed its full fury. Every flash of lightning overhead sent a surge of energy flowing through him, streams of blue sparks flowing across his wet skin as the cool, refreshing rain hammered into his flesh.

Xander could feel the energy pulsing within his body, raging with the storm. _This _was what he had sensed before, what his new instincts had kept him waiting for; this storm didn't have anything to do with the Hellmouth, demons or anything supernatural.. just wind and rain and thunder seeking release like Nature had intended.

Thunder crackled overhead and Xander closed his eyes and spread his arms, allowing the raging storm drown his senses.

¤¤¤

Spike cursed vehemently, trying to light his fag for the seventh time but failing miserably due to the violent storm winds. Sure, thunderstorms made traveling easy for a vampire, but that didn't mean he had to _like_ them.

Word was out that something- or someone- was slaying vampires in Sunnydale, as if the Slayer and her lapdogs weren't enough. Something big had set up camp in the sewers and had gotten wiped out alongside a small vampire nest. Spike had seen the tons of rock that now blocked entry to a particular section; whatever could do _that_ could mean problems for him and Angelus. He could've cared less about the bastard but Dru was an entirely different case. Whatever she'd seen back before had shaken her badly; she didn't even dare leave the lair anymore, muttering about monsters and stars and dragons.

Thunder shook the street beneath him and he couldn't help flinching instinctively. Stupid effing storm. Spike felt like he'd take weeks to dry off after the night.

Lightning struck again and this time he felt a tingle in the air, his hair suddenly seemingly coming to life with static. The streetlights flickered and went out.

In the sudden darkness Spike became suddenly aware of a faint blue-white glow pulsing in the neighboring block. Instantly curious, he decided the direction was just as good as any.

The light seemed to grow stronger as he approached it; finally he had to blink a few times after turning the corner.

"Bloody hell.."

He was standing across the street from a small, normal-looking house.. but now he saw what was making the glow.

There was somebody standing on the roof of the first floor. It was a young man, shirtless, his arms spread wide, face looking up into the heart of the storm. The light was coming from the hundreds of tiny sparks of static crawling along his skin, drawn taut by hard muscles. Tiny streams of lightning jolted across his bare torso, forming a halo of pure energy around him.

Spike stared and realized that at some point his mouth had fallen open. Shaking his head, he warily circled around the corner to get a look at the man's profile. He looked familiar, like he'd seen him before.. then it clicked.

"Bloody hell.. Harris!"

There was no doubt about it. The blue glow of energy around him made his face stand out clearly. He had his eyes closed, face against the rain, and the smile on his face.. cool, faintly vacant.. nearly extatic as thunder creeped along his bare flesh.

A thunderclap shook the air and the aura around Harris intensified for a moment. A feeling of dread washed suddenly over Spike, who found himself running away, fervently thinking of ways to smuggle himself and Drusilla out of Sunnydale as fast as possible. Screw Angelus, screw the Slayer- this was too much for him.

He never saw the halo of power around Xander take momentarily a definite shape, forming a sparkling silhuette of _something_ massive around him for a second.. a tall, broad figure with a pair of batlike wings sprouting from the shoulders.

¤¤¤

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Alex DarkFire: Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it and I hope you like what will come later.

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Malaskor: I'm the one who should thank you for reading this. Thanks!

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Dogbertcarroll: I considered that option for a moment myself. Thanks.

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Pong: Glad to know you like it. Thanks for reviewing!

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M. Kearney: It's good to see you liked it. Currently none of my original work is available online, though I'm considering trying to revive some of my older projects.

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Ragnhild: Deal. Thanks for reviewing.

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Terris1: Thank you!

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Chaos chibi cat: For some odd reason the site broke off everything in your address right after the -mark. Please e-mail me directly (the address is **slahti87 mbnet .fi** , remove the spaces) and I'll get back to you ASAP. I'm glad to know you like this (I'm saying that a lot, aren't I?) and I'd be happy to answer your questions.


	7. Chapter 7

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Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

Special Author's Notes (CHAOS CHIBI CAT AND DRAGONMAGE8, PLEASE READ THIS!):

Some of you reviewers (thanks everybody!) have been leaving me links and/or e-mail addresses in their reviews and has been systematically devouring them. Chaos chibi cat, in case you did not read the review response at the end of chapter 6, my e-mail address is _slahti87 at mbnet dot fi_ (the link can also be found at my bio). ate the last half of your e-mail address in the review so I could not e-mail you as you asked. Please e-mail me with your questions and I shall get back to you ASAP. I apologize for the inconvenience. Dragonmage8, the RPG system you mentioned sounds interesting but ate the link I assume you left in the review. If you could e-mail me with the link I'd be most grateful.

Apologies to everyone for the long delay.. I've been kind of busy in real life- contrary to popular opinion, I DO have a life outside the Internet- and this particular section of the story seemed particularly sticky to write (thus the delay and the relatively short chapter). I figured I should actually get to moving the story forward or I'll be old and gray before I'm even halfway through.

To all my readers and reviewers, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! You help me keep this story alive! I couldn't do this without you people!

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Chapter 7

He was walking down a narrow corridor, tendrils of thin silvery mist crawling up and wrapping around his boots before fading into nothingness. It was a river in his feet, flowing towards whatever lay at the end of the tunnel, pulsing and ebbing along with a faint clear sound echoing all around him. It took him a moment to recognize the sound as something like music.. like hundreds of voices raised in a wordless melody of praise. Something glinted golden to his left; Skye was walking there next to him, clad in the same leather armor Xander had always seen him in.. and the same outfit Xander realized he was now in. To his right, a slim, short figure waded through the mists, details shrouded in shadows and the swirling mists. Somehow, Xander knew immediately that the second figure was a _she_.. and that seeing her made him feel somehow hollow inside, an aching, empty hole of _loss_ in his gut.

Something detached itself from the shadows behind them, a dark, undefined shape that seemed to materialize from the very walls of the corridor.. walls that seemed to be pulsing with life of their own. For a second Xander felt alarmed, but then he realized Skye and his female companion.. _Serena, _hadn't Willow told him that Skye had called for? Somehow the name felt _right_ to him.. paid no attention to the whatever-it-was. Xander couldn't sense anything malign from it.. only a sense of curiosity. He promptly settled for observing it from the corners of his eyes as it tagged along them. Soon, a second one joined the first one, no more detailed; it, too, followed them, observing silently from a distance even as more appeared. Soon there were dozens of the creatures, trailing after them and striding besides them.

Xander could now see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.. God, that was one huge cliché, wasn't it.. the faint chorus now growing ever-so-slightly stronger around him, a clear, haunting melody that seemed to awaken something deep inside him, like a name at the tip of his tongue.. he had to fight the sudden urge to throw his head back and add his own voice to theirs. The mist was now flowing faster around his legs, forming indistinct shapes as it swirled along the walls and the floor.

"Where are we? What is this place?"

No-one answered him.. in fact, no-one seemed to even have heard him. The tunnel was now widening slightly, the light growing stronger with every step he took. He could now hear faint sounds form the dark figures around them; faint leathery rustling noises, low rattling sounds, soft hissed voices.. and though so _alien _to him, everything around him seemed so strangely familiar to him at the same time, a maddening sense of deja-vu.

Suddenly the chorus around them blossomed into an encore of joy and praise, a wave of near-blinding light washing over them; and as all around him creatures of both terrible horror and horrible beauty bowed their heads he sunk to his knees in awe, a sense of incredible presence manifesting all around them. The aura of power he could feel was like the molten core of the sun to Buffy's candle, a feeling of age and might so great it was unfathomable to the mortal mind, beyond Life, Time and Eternity..

Despite everything he couldn't resist sneaking a glance to his right, where the woman who had plagued his subconscious thoughts ever since from that accursed Halloween night even though he had never seen her face before. She was small, nearly petite, kneeling on the floor with her head bowed respectfully down; he guessed she was close to five feet tall if she stood straight up. Her hair was a shade of shimmering metallic silver- _like frozen starlight, _a fragment of a voice whispered within his soul- that fell as a glittering curtain down to her shoulders. Her whole frame was slender, nearly fragile-looking, clothed in a dress of the same glowing green of sunlight seen through the leaves of a great birch tree, gold shining in the bracelets on her slim arms and the single golden hoop through her left ear. Her eyes were the brilliant color of finest emeralds, large and almond-shaped, set in a hauntingly fine-boned, nearly foxlike face, further accentuating the feeling she might fall down and shatter any moment.. and yet in her entire posture was a feeling of concealed steel, even though on her face was a look of sadness that seemed to squeeze his entire heart in grip of frozen steel talons. A pang of tearing loss and regret washed over him and he dropped his gaze back onto the mist-covered floor, ignoring the faint burning sensation in his eyes.

__

"Drach'shul'wynn." Skye's voice rumbled from his left where the man had kneeled on the floor, and even though he had never heard that alien language before, the very sound of it rough on his throat, he knew exactly what he had said. _Drach'shul'wynn.. _'dragon-parent-man'.. the Dragon Father.

A part of his sour curling tightly in terror, Xander looked up into the greatest eye he had ever seen. It reached seemingly eternally to everywhere around him, the iris glowing in all the colors of the rainbow.. the slit pupil colored the deepest black with tiny glimmering points of light deep within. Stars were born and died within that eye, the life and death of a single galaxy but a moment for one who had kept silent vigil since Time itself had begun. As the eye focused down onto him Xander instinctively knew there was nothing more terrifying in all the Hells than to be looked upon by that eye and to be found wanting.

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THIS PLACE IS NOT YET FOR YOU, MORTAL.

Xander didn't even have time to flinch before his world was consumed by light and shrouded in darkness.

----

Awareness crashed through his nerves accompanied by a sudden rush of energy like liquid fire surging through his veins. His startled shout came out in a short rumbling noise like a thunderclap; sweat covering his skin in a thick, cold sheen he spread his arms, claws ready to rend, tear, crush..

__

Claws!

Xander brought his hands before his disbelieving eyes, his soft, entirely human fingers completely normal if not for the faint aura of electric sparks crackling between the digits. For one moment he'd thought.. _what, _it eluded him, the feeling fading like a fever-dream as the rush of energy slowly dulled and faded into what he had accepted as its normal, steady pulse like a second heartbeat. He allowed himself to quiver as he remembered the dream or vision or whatever he had awakened from; he could still remember the feeling of age and power like a sea of endless energy surrounding and smothering him, whispering around him.. compared to this Angelus was nothing, the Judge was a mere mote of dust on the shimmering jewel that was Creation, brushed away with nary a thought..

__

And he still lived. Xander couldn't but help the feeling that on some level he had been judged and had survived the process with his soul and body intact if thoroughly shaken. The same pulse of energy that had banished him from the vision could just as well have wiped his mind out, fried every neuron in his body and left him a soulless vegetable.

And he didn't even know _who_ he had faced.

----

Xander stuck the leather-bound tome he had been perusing back into its place with a disgusted hiss. _How is it possible that Giles has one of the largest, vastest, most detailed collections of information on demonic, occult, divine and supernatural here and there is **nothing** here on a god symbolized by one _sekath_ huge eye! _There were gods with the normal two eyes, there were gods with no eyes, there were gods with a hundred eyes, there was even something called Gruumsh the One-Eyed and All-Seeing, but there was nothing on a god with eyes with stars inside them.

__

..on second thought.. What the heck does 'sekath'_ mean? _There was a short, sudden flash within his mind. _..Hard to translate exactly, but nothing polite. God I hate my mind sometimes._

"Nothing there?" He heard Willow's soft voice from behind, accompanied by a whiff of her perfume. At least she didn't use too much of the stuff.. whatever Cordy had put on had nearly made him sneeze just to get rid of the stench after she'd passed him in the corridor. Sometimes his enhanced sense of smell really stank. Literally.

He made a low 'hrrmmnn'-noise in his throat. "Nothing. Any luck with you?"

A sigh. "Same here. Are you sure you heard him correctly?"

Xander sighed and turned towards her, twisting his neck to the side to get rid of a crick. "Positive. _Drach'shul'wynn, _the Dragon Father- also known as Dachar, the Dragon Lord of Ages, the Scion of Time, the Crystal Dragon or the Crystal Sentinel. I.. I hate how this works- I remember his name, I _know_ I know more, but I just don't remember! It's there on the tip of my tongue, but I- I- arrgh!"

Something crackled. Xander raised his hand, clenched in a fist, and saw tiny snakes of electricity arcing along his skin. Willow made an _eep-_ing noise and Xander actually growled at the hand until the arcs faded back into his flesh. "..I hate it when it does that." At least G-man wasn't around at the moment.

Willow's eyes were roughly the size of hubcaps. "..Does that happen often?"

Xander snorted. "Normally I can suppress it at will. If I'm anxious or annoyed or just plain pissed off it kind of wells up like that."

Willow sighed and gave him a dry look. "..It's a wonder you haven't zapped Snyder to somewhere next month already, then."

Xander entertained the thought for almost a full second. "Don't tempt me. The troll even _smells_ annoying."

Willow snickered. Xander smiled faintly just before his Xander-sense perked up. Two blips, approaching fast.. they didn't as much feel dark than they somehow _resonated_ with the surrounding darkness. Willow must've seen something on his face; she turned towards the library doors and took a few steps back just as he instinctively maneuvered himself between her and the doors. A tingle in his back made him hope he'd brought the Stormhammer. He still wasn't sure how far he could _thrall_ the thing from- not to mention explaining big hunks of steel flying across Sunnydale on their own volition could be tricky.

Xander mentally prepared himself for anything just as the doors slammed open and five feet of blonde Slayer sailed in closely followed by a taller dark-skinned girl. Xander had exactly half a second time to wonder exactly how the heck he could sense Slayers now as well before his brain made the connections and recognized the second girl as Kendra.

It didn't take him as long to remember what had happened the last time the Jamaican Slayer had been in town. This just _couldn't _be good.

"..Ohh boy."

----

A decidedly pale-looking Giles walked out of his office, polishing his glasses and shivering. The bad feeling gnawing on Xander's gut just intensified.

"That was the museum," Giles said quietly. "The curator has been found dead and the artifact has been stolen, by person or persons unknown. Although," and he nodded to the sombre-looking Jamaican Slayer, "Based on the information provided by Kendra's Watcher, we can be in no doubt that what is inside is definitely Acathla."

"..and a catty-la-laa is?" Buffy prompted. Xander held back a wince at the pronunciation. Sure, some demon names- okay, most of them- were difficult or just painful to pronounce, but when magic came into play, you had to be _very_ careful with your words. _Thank the Dragon Lord she's not a spellcaster._

Giles leant on the table and crossed his fingers. "Acathla was a demon summoned in the ancient times to bring an end to this world. His particular power was.. well, by drawing breath he would inhale the world and all that lives here into Hell- or one of the Hells, none of which are particularly pleasant."

__

Hellplanes, Skye's voice rumbled through Xander's head. _Dimensions conquered by the remnants and descendants of the First Ones originally banished into the Void between the Planes by the Elder Gods._

"Fortunately, before he could draw that breath, a knight, a.. a champion, if you will, skewered Acathla's heart with his sword, killing him."

__

Acathla the Devourer was one of the lesser lieutenants of the First Ones to lead their assault back onto the Material Planes. For millennia he left behind a swath of destruction fit to make the Crystal Dragon proud only to vanish without a trace. It is thought he was destroyed in combat, though no actual proof has ever been brought to light.

"..If, however, that sword is removed from his petrified body.. Acathla's body will continue its last action, and Earth will be sucked into Hell."

"Why is it always Hell?" Buffy groaned. "Don't these things have any imagination?"

"Such is their way" Xander muttered low in his throat. "Death and Chaos they were spawned of, and that chaos they wish to spread into the mortal realms.. and it is our duty to hold back the waves of Darkness.. _'Til the stars dim and the moon shatters, 'til the sun fades and winds die, 'til the end of Life, Time and Eternity, 'til Death and beyond in Rebirth we hunt, we protect, we destroy.._"

Willow, who was standing right next to him, gave him a worrying look but didn't say anything. Buffy and Giles didn't look like they even heard him.

"I believe we should assume that Angelus has Acathla and is planning to revive him. Until we have more information we must to be very careful. Buffy, Kendra, I want you to patrol with great care tonight. Do not use the usual routes and do not stay late. The rest of us will-"

"Will hit the books for information," the others chorused.

"Apart from you, Willow," Giles corrected. "I want you to concentrate on the soul restoration spell. If Angelus plans to plunge us all into Hell one way of preventing it could be bringing Angel back."

That comment earned a confused blink from Xander. When Willow headed for the deeper recesses of the library he followed her; the moment he was sure they were out of reach he stopped her.

"Willow," he began, his voice lowered into a deep thrum, "What was that about a 'soul restoration' spell?"

He got a confused look from her. "You don't know?" she whispered.

He frowned ever-so-slightly. "I've been.. otherwise disposed." The faint glint of his golden eyes and the nearly unnoticeable flash of fangs as he spoke told her everything she needed to know.

"Miss Calendar was working on it before she.. before she died. It's a modified version of the Gypsy soul curse that was originally used on Angelus. We- Giles and I- think we could use it to restore Angel's soul. It's.. the ritual's more complex than what I've ever tried before.. but I'm sure I can do it." Her voice had gained a steely edge when she got to the last sentence, coupled with pure stubborn resolve creeping into her features.

Xander allowed himself the faintest of smiles. "If there's anyone who can it's going to be you, little tree." While Willow was still blinking over the nickname the smile vanished from his face, replaced with a cold, hard certainty that seemed alien on his formerly carefree person. "I.. I'm no mage, Willow, but I know what you're about to do requires enormous amounts of energy. One wrong gesture, one misspelt word.. all that power has to go somewhere. Be careful. In the ritual.. _I shan't leave thy side, if thou wouldst have me_."

__

'Til Death and beyond.. We protect. Skye purred in his soul.

****

I#I#I#I#I#I#I

Review Responses

Alex Darkfire: Thank you! My Finnish teacher always said I tend to write long, good descriptions.

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Ragnhild: Thank you! I have the beginnings of several crossover fics on my hard drive plus a good-sized folder filled with writings, but most are far from fit for publishing. So far none of my original works have found their way onto the Internet, but I've been thinking of correcting that..

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Dnic5: Not quite as strongly as in the beginning, but still going thanks to people like you who review!

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M. Kearney: Thank you for a well-though out review! It's good to hear a reviewer likes what they've read but even better when they can actually tell what they liked and why. After so many people have asked me to publish my original work I've been seriously considering it; trust me, if I _do_ get around to uploading anything you will be the first to know.

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Pong: Sadly, not as soon as I would have wanted it myself. Sorry about the delays, hope you're still reading.

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Shadz: Thank you for review. Sadly, I have to admit I haven't seen that much of Dragon Ball (regular, Z or GT) since it isn't aired here in Finland; what little I know of the series comes from a few stray episodes I've seen on tape or from miscellaneous crossovers I've read here on I merely used DBZ as an example. Hmh, maybe if I can get to actually know the show I could see if I could fit Skye in there somewhere..

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Dogbertcarroll: Thank you for the tip, I'll keep that in mind.. I'll be the first to admit that that chapter wasn't exactly the best one of the story, I'm far from satisfied with it.

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DaBear: Thank you for reviewing! Xander's reaction to the storm is one of the many things he got from Skye; I guess the closes equivalent for a standard Human would be sunbathing. Where a Human relaxes in the sun he absorbs energy from the wind and the thunder.

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Dragonmage8: Trust me, I'm as surprised as you are. That particular chapter is indeed nearly shamefully short; I'll be trying to make the next chapters a little longer. I dislike reading itty-bitty three paragraph long chapters myself; they make a story look 'choppy', at least in my opinion.

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Tom: Thank you! I'm trying my best!

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Kyle: I'm glad you liked it, thank you very much!

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Sil: Ask and thou shalt receive. I hope you liked it.

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Destiny's Dragon: Thank you!I'm glad you think so!

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Candy Dawn: At the risk of sounding like a smartarse, about six pages ago.. Sorry, couldn't resist. Thank you for reviewing, and I'm _very_ sorry for the delay.

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Ronin100: I'm glad you like this; thank you for reviewing and, again, I'm sorry for such long delays.. stupid writer's block..

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Suzuka Blade: Thank you very much! I'll do my best:snatches the bag midair: Hey, these look kinda good..

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Thank you all, see you chapter 8!


	8. Chapter 8

Azure Halloween

Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.

Warning: Some parts of this chapter are rather graphic at nature. No blood and guts or lemon/lime or the like but you still might want to prepare yourself if you're the easily disturbed type.

Chapter 8

The beginnings of the ritual seemed to consist mainly of Willow chanting in a low voice, occasionally broken by Oz and Cordelia waving talismans of some sort in patterns and speaking short sentences in a languages Xander couldn't understand. Occasionally Giles would chant something in a language that sounded hoarse on the throat and throw handfuls of something on a small brazier, releasing a cloud of pungent-smelling smoke.. After a second helping of the stuff Xander had retreated to a chair in the shadows near the ritual far enough to keep the fumes from messing with his sensitive sense of smell. He could feel power building up slowly in the circle; it made his spook radar tingle oddly- not light, not dark, more like.. potential to be anything if given enough time and energy.

Buffy had decided- against both his and Giles' better judgement- to split the Scoobies into two, joining Kendra in an attempt to scout out the warehouse they thought Acathla was being held. _That_ had been an interesting argument right until Buffy had snapped and taken an imperious tone.

"Enough! We don't have enough time here for second guesses here. Willow, you're staying here. Try to bring Angel back. Oz, Cordy, Giles, I want you to help her. Xander.. just try to stay out of the way."

Xander made an half-amused half-indignant rumble in his throat. 'Stay out of the way'.. General Buffy was so focused on regaining her vampire lover she failed to even notice the changes in him. He wasn't sure whether he should be insulted or impressed with her loyalty.

Willow raised her voice; her words gained a hard demanding edge. Xander sensed a swirl in the energy of the circle, washing against his senses with a dull tingle. It wasn't until he closed his eyes for a second he realized a dark presence gathering nearby. They'd thought the warehouse had been a trap- it had been. For them.

His eyes snapped open instantly, his body immediately poised for combat. Power rushed through his body in a hot wave. "Willow!" He rumbled.

Willow flinched mid-syllable. There was a sharp snapping sound like a whipcrack and a puff of purple-green smoke formed above the brazier for a moment.

Xander held back a wince. Thankfully the repercussions for breaking the ritual hadn't been particularly.. spectacular. "Vampires," he growled when Willow gave him a questioning look. "At least a dozen approaching from the north and northwest. Cordelia, you have to get out of here."

Giles blinked rather owlishly. "Xander, how did you-"

"Long story.. far too long." There was a large leathery bag at his feet; Xander unzipped it and revealed a two-foot long piece of silver and ebony steel as Willow headed for the weapons cabinets and returned with swords, axes and crossbows. When she wordlessly offered one to him he just gave a serrated grin. "I brought my own, thanks, Wills."

He hefted the Stormhammer and felt it thrumming in his hands. Three pairs of eyes paused to stare at it as he swung it through the air, feeling the grip properly, and an arc of energy snapped between two thorns.

The library door creaked and slammed open; Xander snarled and hurled the mace.

I#I#I#I#I

If the vampires had thought they'd be surprising a group of helpless humans they were sorely mistaken. As the first vampires rushed into the room the Stormhammer spun through the air and _out_ of the room, plowing its way through the vampire pack with a series of startled grunts that ended abruptly into _poof_ing sounds before disappearing into the corridor behind them. Judging from the resounding crash of metal and shattering glass he'd managed to hit a vending machine. Before the dust had the time to settle Xander bared his fangs in an expression that might have been a rather evil grin and held his hand out in a beckoning gesture.

"Thrall!"

Most of the vampires had had the brains to duck and cover as the mace has torn its way though their ranks. A few had been stood up but most of them quickly ducked back down as there was a clatter of metal and the Stormhammer spun through the air back into his outstretched hand, dusting several more vampires in the process. He spun the weapon in his hands with a seemingly lazy twirl, trailing dust and sparks to the air. As he took a few running steps forward and swung at the nearest vampire (the mace flaring into a blue-white light, the vampire disintegrating rather than exploding into dust) he heard the twang of crossbows as the other Scoobies joined the fray. He could feel the bolts whizzing past him but knew to trust their aim.

_Come, shadowborn, _Skye rumbled in his head. _Come to me, nightspawn, come and die again!_

_"Thrall, xanth'auch'na.. Thrall'e'gar, cthol'na, thrall'ar'kess'ahar!"_

He didn't pause to wait. He charged, fangs gleaming, the Stormhammer pulsing in his hands.

"En'nach Dachar! En'nach Sseramach'a'Xanth!"

I#I#I#I#I

As Xander tore into the vampires with an unnerving ferocity Giles and Oz advanced with a sword and an axe respectively at hand, more than little confused by this Xander that was so different from what they'd been used to. Willow raised her crossbow and took out one of the vampires with a well-aimed shot, careful not to aim at Xander. Xander bellowed something that sounded like a combat challenge and struck with his mace, sending two vamps flying and dusting one at the spot. There was something.. alien in the way he moved, Willow realized as she reloaded her crossbow. Every step he took, every swing he made was filled with a kind of deadly grace that belied his mass and strength. It reminded her strongly of a the way a large cat moved, every seemingly lazy movement charged with barely-concealed charge ready to explode into action. When Xander wasn't fighting it felt like an aura of carefully concealed violence; when he _did_ fight it was just plain scary.

Something creaked behind her. Suddenly there was an enormous crash that shook the floor beneath her feet, quickly followed by another accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. Her eyes widened. Hadn't Xander said he sensed them in the north and northwest?

"The fire exit! They're breaking in through the fire exit!"

I#I#I#I#I

Xander let loose a rumbling snarl and clobbered a vampire over the head with the hilt of his mace. It collapsed, leaving just enough room for an effective swing that left a second vampire screeching as several ragged parallel gouges in its chest smoked and spread a thick stench of burning flesh around it.

"The fire exit! They're breaking in through the fire exit!"

"Blood of the Dragon, how many are there?" Xander growled.

Dozens of vampires were now little more than bloodstained ashes on the library floor but dozens more were swarming through the library doors, their combined presence sufficient to completely swamp his less human senses, a thick feeling of death and corruption cloying the air around him.

Danger!

Power pulsed and surged beneath his skin, flowing through him and into his weapon with every swing he took, the mace crackling and thrumming in his hands. He was practically tasting the vampiric taint in the air, relying on instinct and his Xander-sense rather than sight.

Danger! Danger! Death! Darkness!

Instinct had him tearing his way through the dead hordes, leaving behind a swath of dusted or maimed vampires. The power was a maelstrom of energy whirling within his soul and _around _him, invisible streams of _something_ reaching out through the walls and ceilings into the skies above.

Blood! Shadow!

Something shone through the darkness of the vampires' presence, a dim light that approached and brightened until it burnt its way through them like a holy flame. The hordes around him were torn between two directions as he carved a bloody path through them. For one moment he was fighting alongside that something that burnt with a light that pulsed with the shadows.. then it passed him, heading for the other half of the library. Something within him pulsed for a second with something like.. acknowledgement? Respect?

Danger! Danger! Kill! Kill!

Xander fought like a man possessed, ripping through undead flesh with fury and enchanted steel. A burning rage surged through his veins, lending further strength to his blows. His shirt was torn, blood seeping slowly from scratches and slashes that didn't even slow him down. The normally pale skin of his arms was turning a purplish-red as more blood was pumped into the limbs to keep up with his bulging muscles.

Outside the dark clouds were gathering above the school as the wind picked up. The air felt thick and heavy like just before the storm even as the first droplets of water hammered against the roof.

Inside Xander hammered his opponents with the Stormhammer, resorting to his fists and stake when the vampires finally managed to rip the mace away from him. Mere touch of the blessed weapon scorched them but they still managed to keep it away from him even if he tried to call it back to his hands. When the battered fire escape door finally broke down he turned and faced the advancing vampires with a menacing snarl, his eyes alight with a feral glow.

Eventually Oz and Giles were overwhelmed and knocked unconscious. Xander still fought even against hopeless odds, forcing his opponents to pay dearly for every inch he had to let up. Finally the seemingly limitless vampires were down to twelve of their number before they managed to subdue him enough for one to close in for the bite.

The last thing he saw before he felt a tearing pain on the side of his neck was a pair of vampires advancing on Willow.

Prrrotect..

The darkness claimed him, Willow's desperate call echoing in his failing senses.

I#I#I#I#I

"Xander!"

Willow felt like screaming as her oldest friend slowly slumped against the vampire behind him, the four vampires hanging on his arms letting go. His skin was quickly turning a ghastly white, accompanied by a sickening slurping noise from the vampire that was nearly holding him up now.

This can't be happening! Xander! No!

I#I#I#I#I

He was floating in darkness surrounded by the most beautiful music he had ever heard. A wordless chorus of angelic voices raised in ultimate praise and joy washed over him.

"Wake up.."

"No.." he murmured. The darkness was warm and soft. He was safe here.

"Open your eyes.."

The voice was tempting, a clear melodic female voice that almost sounded like the speaker was singing even if she was just speaking. The song around him intensified, calling to him..

"Wake up.."

Slowly, reluctantly, he opened his eyes. The song around him intensified and he was temporarily blinded for a second by the sudden brightness. When he finally got his vision back he found himself looking down into a pair of eyes colored the deepest, clearest emerald he had ever seen.

Serena smiled up at him, her pearly white teeth lighting up her delicate face. She must've been standing on her tiptoes; even if he was leaning slightly forward their faces were only half a foot apart. She smelled like the crisp chill wind of a frozen winter morning, with a faint underlying scent of herbs and something musky.

For one moment he could only blink stupidly. Then the memories rushed back to him, the ritual, the vampire swarm..

"Willow!" Xander snapped straight up. "Where.." He took in the knee-deep layer of opaque mist boiling on the ground and the light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "Where are we? What are we doing here? I have to get back- Willow!" The side of his neck was itching furiously now but he didn't dare to touch it in case he found something there.

Serena smiled sadly at him, placing her slender left hand on his armored wrist. He realized suddenly that he was wearing the same ensemble he had used on Halloween.. and that Serena was holding a long staff in her right hand, the top forking into two wicked-looking foot-long spearlike prongs roughly at the height of her head.

"Try to calm down.." Her voice rang like crystal bells, "..You can't go back now."

"Not many can return from the Void" A strong voice rang out from behind him. Xander spun around and couldn't help gawking. The voice had been Skye's but the figure standing before him was suited in a suit of heavy full plate armor painted deep glossy black like the starless night, intricately decorated with shining silver. The familiar silvery amulet depicting a winged serpent was attached into the left side of the chest plate, looking for all the world like it was a solid part of the cuirass. The front of the helmet was shaped into an elongated demonic snarling mask of silver fangs and black steel, golden eyes glittering faintly behind the dark eye-sockets permanently squinted in a fierce glare. Two pairs of horns curved up and behind from the top, adding a good eight inches to his already considerable height and a pair of finlike protuberances fanned out from where his ears would have been under the helmet. Some kind of sigil gleamed silver from the left pauldron, a curved triangular shape like a talon and three narrow lines converging near the base like an arrow, resembling the wingtip of a bat.. or a dragon. The end of a familiar silver-and-black handle could faintly be seen poking up from behind the left pauldron.

"Where are we? Why are we here! Give me some answers!" Armor or not, Xander was very close to let his fists do the questioning.

The ruby eye of the serpent glittered and flashed. "Calm yourself. The Void is a kind of.. in-between-state. We-"

YOU ARE HERE TO BE JUDGED, MORTAL.

The voice had no source, no direction; it echoed through the darkness and shook every cell in his body with pure energy. The chorus blossomed around them into a soaring crescendo as an incredible wave of power washed over him. The darkness before him split horizontally and _opened, _revealing a massive eye glowing in all the hues of the rainbow.

"Father."

"My Lord."

He heard a clatter of metal from his right and a shuffling noise from his left side as Skye and Serena, respectively, kneeled before the eye. Xander squared his shoulders and stood his ground even as a part of him wanted nothing more than curl into a fetal position and whimper in horror.

"Judged? For what?"

TIME PASSES FOR ALL THAT LIVES.

ALL THAT EXISTS HAS ITS GIVEN TIME.

YOUR TIME HAS COME.

Xander scoffed. "What interest does the Scion of Time have in a lowly _human_? I'd have expected angels and haloes, not the Lord of Ages."

I AM OLDER THAN TIME, OLDER THAN LIFE, OLDER THAN ETERNITY.

I COME FOR ALL MY CHILDREN AND SERVANTS.

ALL THAT LIVES AND DIES COMES HERE.

I JUDGE ALL THE SOULS THAT PASS HERE.

"I'm not one of your servants, Elder One." _Oh, what the heck. Might as well go out with a bang._

The deep dark pupil narrowed ever-so-slightly. Within the darkness a cloud of dust and gas gathered, swirled and solidified into a blazing star.

YOUR SOUL IS BOUND TO THE SPIRIT OF ONE OF MY CHILDREN.

YOU HAVE SPILT BLOOD IN MY NAME.

YOUR BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILT IN SERVICE TO MY NAME.

THAT IS ENOUGH.

"And more blood shall be spilt if I cannot return! My friends could be _dying_ right now!"

The remains of the cloud formed into spheres of rock around the star, spinning around it in an intricate dance.

YOU HAVE PASSED HERE COUNTLESS TIMES BEFORE.

COUNTLESS LIVES FAR GREATER THAN YOURS HAVE PASSED HERE.

IT IS THE WAY OF ALL THINGS.

WHY SHOULD YOU BE DIFFERENT?

"The Undead you so hate are about to feed my world to the demons! They will shatter your precious Balance!"

White, green and gold spread onto one of the planets, thousands upon thousands of generations of evolution growing and dying in a time it took for him to take a breath.

THE BALANCE TURNS BOTH WAYS.

IT EBBS.

IT FLOWS.

IT WILL RESTORE ITSELF.

"At the cost of billions of lives, souls consumed by the hordes of the Hellplanes!"

WHAT DIFFERENCE DO YOU HOPE TO MAKE, MORTAL?

The star spun around and around, shrinking all the time until it was too bright to look at. The planets around it cooled and died before his eyes.

"What difference I can! I will not give up, I will not abandon my loved ones! Not now, not ever! _'Til the stars dim and the moon shatters, 'til the sun fades and winds die, 'til the end of Life, Time and Eternity, 'til Death and beyond in Rebirth we hunt, we protect, we destroy!_"

For one moment that stretched into eternity silence filled the void around them. The white star spun around faster and faster until suddenly it collapsed into a tear blacker than the emptiness around it and devoured the worlds it had given life to. Slowly the eye rotated to lock its gaze first upon Skye, then on Serena before swiveling back to him.

YOU DESIRE TO REENTER THE MORTAL REALMS.

AND WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE IN RETURN?

"No price is too high!"

WOULD YOU BECOME MY SERVANT IN YOUR WORLD? WOULD YOU FIGHT THE CREATURES YOU HAVE ALWAYS FOUGHT NOW IN MY NAME?

"If it would save my friends, I would!"

WILL YOU HUNT WHAT I ORDER YOU TO HUNT?

"Yes!"

WILL YOU PROTECT WHAT IORDER YOU TO PROTECT?

"I will!"

WILL YOU DESTROY WHAT I ORDER YOU TO DESTROY?

"Yes!"

WILL YOU HUNT THE POWERS OF DARKNESS WHERE YOU FIND THEM?

"Yes!"

WILL YOU PROTECT THOSE WHO CANNOT PROTECT THEMSELVES? WILL YOU PROTECT THOSE WHO WILL FEAR YOU, THOSE WHO WILL HATE YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE?

"I will not back down!"

WILL YOU DESTROY THE REMNANTS OF THE FIRST ONES AND THOSE TAINTED BY THEIR FILTH WHEREVER YOU MAY ENCOUNTER THEM?

"Yes!"

ARE YOU WILLING TO BECOME ONE OF MY CHILDREN AND LOSE A PART OF WHAT YOU CALL YOUR HUMANITY?

"Anything for my friends!"

WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND THOSE YOU KNOW TO SERVE ME?

For one moment Xander faltered. "I cannot leave behind those I love! What good is power with no-one to protect?"

The pupil narrowed again, completely focused on him. Xander stared defiantly into it, refusing to budge an inch.

THE PRICE IS SUFFICIENT.

ARISE, SCHAA'ZOR OF CLAN DEATHWING.

Schaa'Zor- the Wing of the Storm..

Skye stood up with a ring of steel against steel and pressed his armored hands onto Xander's shoulders. Instinctively Xander reached out and wrapped his arms around Skyes' to place his own hands on his thick metal pauldrons. Their eyes locked, shining gold against shining gold; and somehow something else seemed to overlap Skye, an outline of something older and larger than he had imagined but still vaguely _knew_ in the deep recesses of his mind. For one moment the mask twisted and bared silver and ivory fangs at him in an expression that could have been a smile as golden slitted eyes shimmered behind the eyeslits. He could feel his power rising within him, Skye's energy rushing to meet it.. and the two collided and twined together, melding and becoming not a combination of the two but something beyond the sum of their parts. Power flowed through him, roared in his veins and sung with his soul as the voices of the Children of Dachar rose around them to greet their new brother. The power embraced him and consumed him and all around him the deep voice like thunder given form echoed and rumbled through the darkness.

THE BARGAIN HAS BEEN MADE.

THE PRICE IS SUFFICIENT.

THE PRICE HAS BEEN PAID.

AWAKEN, MY CHILD, AND EMBRACE THE GLORY THAT IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT.

ARISE, DACHAR STORM PALADIN!

I#I#I#I#I

Thunder cracked outside, a deep rumbling _boom _that shook the foundations under her feet. Suddenly Willow felt like the very air had come around her; a thick, metallic feel permeated the room, her hair suddenly feeling like it was moving on its own and trying to stand up. The vampires advancing on her paused for a moment, confused by the sudden change in the atmosphere..

Then the lights flickered and the vampire still holding Xander in a twisted embrace suddenly _exploded_ in a brilliant flare of blue-white light, a sizzling outline of an afterimage composed of blue lightning lingering for a second before fading away.

Thunder rumbled again and Xander sunk down on his knees with a tortured moan, hands barely holding him in a kneeling position. Then he _screamed, _his back arcing backwards, chest thrust out and arms spread to the side, screamed a horrible piercing cry of agony that tore trough her heart. The windows shattered outwards, hurling crystalline shrapnel into the night; and as the howling wind tore into the room and kicked up swirling clouds of fine vampire dust a horrid white-blue light seemed to ignite and radiate from under his skin, glowing through his eyes, nostrils and mouth like he was filled with nothing but the luminance. She could see every one of his teeth outlined black against the glow, could see the horrible gaping hole in his neck and the scratches and slashes on his chest and arms, the light leaking out of them like through cracks in a nightshade.. and before her eyes lightning seemed to crawl over and around the wounds, flesh and skin reknitting itself over the damage.

Thunder shook the building and the scream dropped several octaves into a beastly roar like no human throat was ever made to produce, a call of pain, fury and power that awakened instincts in Willow left over from billions of years ago, from the time the first ancestors of Humans were little more than mice scurrying at the feet of the gigantic creatures that ruled the Earth. She wanted to run, to hide and tremble but could not move a muscle, transfixed like she was watching a trainwreck happening with her own eyes. The vampires fared little better; they cowered and edged away from Xander, completely forgetting about her for the time.

There was a sudden sick _crack_ as if bone breaking that made her shiver followed right by a second one. Something in Xander seemed to _twist_ and _stretch _beyond description, a disgusting wet _ripping_ sound she had never heard before but somehow recognized as the sound of living flesh tearing and reforming that would haunt her nightmares for weeks to come.

It visibly began with his hands. Suddenly his little fingers seemed to shrink and atrophy in a matter of seconds, the remaining fingers strengthening and thickening. His skin was receiving a decidedly blue tint when the entire lower half of his face suddenly _bulged_ outwards with a sickening bony crunch, the nose melting into the upper lip and leaving only a pair of narrow slits for nostrils.

Willow stifled a scream and gagged. There was a series of rapid cracking noises like a firecrackers as his teeth seemed to split and multiply to occupy his now-too-long jaws, leaving behind rows of half-an-inch-long fangs. It looked like his flesh was squirming beneath his skin, bones shattering and reshaping themselves, muscles and organs stretching, melting and regrowing into shapes they were never meant to be.

His fingertips split, something sharp protruding from the bleeding marks and hardening into long black hooked talons. His skin was now entirely blue, blue like the deep calm ocean or the cold clear sky right before the evening, shining like polished glass. His spine suddenly extended behind him, forming a muscular coil that squirmed and jerked like an azure snake with its head cut off.

Then there was a sick wet _ripping_ noise of tearing flesh and cloth and a pair of arms so thin they could have been called skeletal tore through his back right below his shoulders; Willow screamed as the fingers twitched and jerked, the bones stretching into impossibly long and thin shapes as muscles grew and coiled along the structure. The thumbs hardened and stiffened until they were nothing more than eight-inch-long curved claws, a thick webby membrane growing between the fingers, hardening into a leathery surface dark as the stormy skies.

A creamy white layer like bones taking the form of small shields grew onto the flesh of his chest and stomach, vaguely resembling those old Roman armors with the breastplate adorned with impossible abdominal and chest muscles; there was a sudden sound like glass shattering and a serrated crystalline diamond pattern appeared on his blue skin, shimmering and glittering in the eerie light. His ears shrunk and were replaced by a pair of fanlike structures, thin membranes supported by five bony quills; and long, curved bone-white spikes ripped through the changing skin on the top of his head, a dual row of at least eight horns that trailed from above his eyes, now situated more towards the sides of his head, towards the back of his head where his formerly short hair was turning into a wild mane of coarse black strands. The tip of his new limb- _tail, _a hysterical section of her mind sobbed- grew itself a stingerlike tip of bony spikes that gleamed wickedly, twin rows of serrated bony plates running along the spine.

With the last changes his torso and limbs seemed to bulge with still-growing muscles until what was left of his shirt and trousers tore apart and slid off like pieces of shed skin. The light flickered out from his mouth and eyes, stray streams of electricity arcing between horns and along scales, crackling along fingers tipped with two-inch-long razor-sharp curved ebony black talons.

Then he opened his eyes, solid gold with narrow slit pupils, and the creature that had once been Xander Harris stood up and gave challenging roar, spreading its vast draconic wings, lightning surging between the fanged jaws and along the scaly snout. The thunder roared along with it and Willow could see only one word reflected in those eyes, the pupils glowing with a horrible crimson fire of their own.

Kill! Kill!

**I#I#I#I#I**

**Cliffhanger! I'm evil, I know. To quote one of my favorite songs: "This dance- Will hurt like Hell.." As I'm writing this I'm about one page into chapter 9, so you shouldn't have to wait that long.**

**Review Responses:**

**Harry2: **Whoa, a review for every chapter! Thank you very much for reading this, I'm glad you've enjoyed it!

**M. Kearney: **Thank you very much! It's good to see people like my work- I aim to entertain. Skye is my first original character and probably the most well-thought-ought of them (right along with Serena, though she rarely gets as much attention). I've been trying to keep Xander as much in-character as possible while slowly sliding him more towards Skye's disposition.

**Shinigami-chan: **:chuckle: I'm glad to see you likes my work. Thankyou very much If I remember correctly the '-chan'-postfix means either 'little', 'girl/woman', or some combination of the two. So 'Shinigami-chan' could mean either 'Little God of Death', 'Goddess of Death', or 'Little Goddess of Death'. ..Okay, knocking it off with the lecture-mode. Sorry.

**KujasUltimate: **Thank you!

**Destiny's Dragon: **I intend to. Thank you for reading!

**Dogbertcarroll: **Now _that_ gave me an idea.. I'll have to see if I can use it, if you don't mind? Thank you for your review, I'm glad to see you like this.

Thank you everybody! See you all in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

**Azure Halloween**

**Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.**

**Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.**

**Panzerjaeger Lahti reporting in..**

**I know I said that 'you shouldn't need to wait long for the next chapter'. I'd like to think of myself as a man of my word and that was the original plan, right until my obligatory conscription to the Finnish Defense Forces kicked in. Needless to say, I've had little to no time to write, what with all the training. On the pro side, after these six months, I've managed to gain some additional muscles, know how to shoot a RK95 Finnish assault rifle (with 97 marks on my best run), know what _not_ to do with an anti-tank mine (nineteen pounds of raw TNT equals big _boom_), know _what _to do with a 66 KES 88 light anti-tank weapon (tank says _boom_) or an APILAS heavy single-shot bazooka (that thing can punch through two and a half feet of steel plate!!).. and I am now officially authorized to pilot a CV9030FIN assault tank. Twenty-seven and a half tons of fluid steel beast goes _roar_ every time I push a little on my right foot. I kid thee not. Anyway, now I am again free to pursue my own agendas as far as work allows which means writing. The fact that I rewrote this chapter several times (this one is chapter 9e, which would be the 5th version of chapter 9) didn't exactly help matters. I think only about 40 of what I write actually ends up in the actual story archive. I'm very sorry for this delay, folks, and I hope I haven't driven away any of my (more or less) faithful readers. **

**At this point let it be said that since FF-net's current stance towards review responses embedded in the actual story files is negative, this will be the last chapter where you'll see the responses at the end of chapter. As a result if you're logged in as an anonymous user I won't be able to respond. Thus, although normal FF-net reviews are still highly appreciated you can send in reviews, comments and questions to my personal e-mail account, the link to which can be found in my bio. I'm always up for conversation. I'll answer any FF-net reviews while submitting the next chapter, but I check my e-mail nearly every day and will reply as soon as possible. Please include the words 'Azure Halloween' in your e-mail subject, as I've set up a message filter to 'catch' those e-mails. Without your mail might get ignored for a while or at the very worst be mistaken for spam and blammed.**

**..OK, you've been Wall of Text-ed. Let's get on with the chapter, shall we?**

**Chapter 9**

**THE BARGAIN HAS BEEN MADE.**

**THE PRICE IS SUFFICIENT.**

**THE PRICE HAS BEEN PAID.**

**AWAKEN, MY CHILD, AND EMBRACE THE GLORY THAT IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT.**

_**ARISE, DACHAR STORM PALADIN!**_

The world dissolved into darkness, the song of his new brethren echoing through the shadows- but the last thing he heard as the Eye of Dachar faded out of sight was the voices of Skye and Serena – Schaa'Zor and Sechr'Auch'Na, entwined and bound together so that it was difficult to tell which one was which.

_Best of luck to you, Alexander LaVelle Harris.. There will be pain, but have courage and endure, for the Lord of Ages watches over all His children. You are not alone. Never have been, are not now, and shall never be.._

Dragonfire burnt through the world and left behind rage and agony.

I#I#I#I#I

Solid gold eyes, the narrow slit pupils blazing their own fearsome crimson light, opened to the world for the first time. Muscles like steel towcables twitched and stretched, pulling on reformed bones. A reshaped heart took its first beat, sending streams of blood and magic- in the end, there was little difference- flowing through new veins, synapses that had never been connected before firing in rapid-fire succession. Massive lungs sheathed in a ribcage of steel and an armor of bone plates contracted, then expanded for the first time.

Reborn. Enhanced. Unleashed. _Vengeful._

The first emotion he knew after his rebirth was _rage, _and his first exhale turned into a roar of fury as the heavens above released their anger in a deafening crack of thunder that shook the very earth beneath his talons.

Claws of razor-sharp obsidian twitched and flexed, rows upon rows of ivory fangs bared in a vicious snarl as lightning arced across sapphire scales and crackled between alabaster horns. Muscular wings unfurled majestically, tasting the air for the very first time. Nostrils flared, thousands of new impulses running through his brain.

Blood. Death. Fear, anger, sweat, darkness.

Evil.

_Prey._

A muscular tail swept slowly from side to side, the vicious stinger housed in the tip scraping the floor mere inches from the toes of a stunned Willow, whose knees had failed and who had her back pressed against the corner, her face frozen in an expression of fear and awe. A deep rumbling growl more felt than heard made the floorboards beneath vibrate slightly.

**ARISE, MY CHILD, AND BE MY FOREFIGHTER IN YOUR WORLD!**

Then the rage overtook him in an explosion of black fire and he dropped onto his haunches before _pouncing, _a roaring, snarling storm of claws and fangs.

_Sseramach'wynn. _Hunter.

_Orenmach'wynn. _Protector.

_Scharromach'wynn._

_Destroyer._

I#I#I#I#I

The melody of Cosmos, the harmony of the spheres of Matter circled by the planes of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light and Shadow in an intricate dance surrounded by the outer realms of Order, Chaos, Good, Evil and Balance as the Great Wheel turned was like the ring of silver and glass bells perceptible only to an entity that existed only partly within the Planes, a constant, intricate and ethereal melody. Sheltered by the Shield of the Elders like a delicate mobile above a baby's crib within a sphere of crystal finer and stronger than the purest of diamonds, bound together with silvery lines of astral links through the infinite expanse of the Astral Plane, the slow dance of the planes was far beyond the comprehension of any mortal being.

And between the Planes, an entity observed silently the happenings of one of the material Planes. He didn't have a name. To his kind, names were meaningless, for what use was a name to one that would never be seen by others than his kind? Mortals gave him and his kind names just as soon as they forgot them, and his kind would know each other by essence alone. To be precise, he didn't have a gender either. His kind had always been and would always be. There was never going to be more or less of them. He didn't even have a physical body, more like an impression of presence although he could project a physical presence, an avatar, onto the Planes if he needed to.

He did have a title, however, a task, and at this time it was Observer. Forces just as powerful but in diametrical opposition to his kind constantly vied for dominance over the material planes and their inhabitants with his kind. Aeons ago they had had to result to direct conflict, even on the Material planes, as well as the Elemental and Outer planes. Though they nor their enemies couldn't be directly destroyed, many of Observer's kind, as well as their opponents', had been weakened or imprisoned- at the cost of millions of souls lost in their struggle, lost or returned to the Astral Plane. That had went on right until forces beyond their power – forces both sides had thought would never interfere- had done just that and issued a _very_ binding verdict that neither side was to directly act against the other on other Planes except those already under their direct control under the threat of banishment outside the Shield.

Both sides immediately turned to plotting instead of warring. Intricate plans and designs were brought forth, setting up a kind of extraplanar cold war that had gone on aeons. Though neither side could directly intervene they discovered they could use mortal creatures as underlings to a limited effect, and promptly did so. Sometimes armies of lesser beings would fight against one other for them; and sometimes, their underlings were few in power or quantity. Intricate plans unfolded little by little in their struggles, and Observer's current duty was to keep watch over one of the contested planes where one of the current parts of their design was unfolding. Some of their pawns would be lost, some strengthened; but overall, they benefited.

Right until a surge of power that was most definitely _not_ a part of the plan erupted where one of the more vital phases of the section was about to unfold. Its mere presence could knock their designs askew for several millenia; Observer could feel how the possibilities, the probable outcomes were twisted and altered, timelines multiplying and branching out in formerly improbable and extremely unpredictable directions.

If he had been mortal he would have been surprised, annoyed, indignant. Perhaps, he would later think, he should have been as he sought to salvage what was left of the situation and negate the surge before it could do any further damage. Reaching out with his power, he focused on the disturbance and spent a moment to marvel at the surprising amount of energy before grasping at the source-

And was repelled by a pulse or power that surprised him, overwhelming his defenses and shunting him from the aether into the empty mists of the Astral Plane as he lost his tenuous foothold with the Material Plane he had been observing.

Gray clouds of ectoplasm floated around and through his presence, hazy orbs of light like faded fireflies- bodiless souls in torpor before reincarnation- drifting across the gray nothingness. Somewhere, far away from his vantage point, the clouds rolled and boiled until they gained a reddish hue, suddenly erupting into a cloud of crimson and gold flames that moved along a drunkenly careening path. Observer could sense several primal essences in the flame cloud, vaguely humanoid forms – _eidolonii - _diving through the boiling flames of the elemental storm as it floated away from him.

_Who dares?_

The clouds of proto-matter shifted and a vast form began to coalescent- a form he recognized, like did all of his kind. A pair of eyes where galaxies formed and died locked him in their gaze, the orbs of dormant souls suddenly changing course and zooming towards the leviathan before being absorbed into crystalline scales that scintillated in the colors of the rainbow. Gargantuan wings unfolded, the insides a black void where stars shone like in the vacuum of space, a tide of ancient might and power washing over him as the Avatar regarded him with a celestial glare.

**THIS ONE IS OF ME AND ONE OF MINE. TELL YOUR SUPERIORS TO FIND THEMSELVES A NEW PAWN. SO HAS THE ETERNAL SCION DECREED; SO IT HAS BEEN; SO IT IS AND SO IT SHALL FOREVER MORE BE.**

I#I#I#I#I

Spike flicked his lighter on for his cigarette and was just about to light it up when there was a sharp crackling noise and the lights went out. He blinked and looked up to the ceiling, the faint light of his lighter casting dancing shadows around the dead lightbulb. "What the bloody.."

A sudden, piercing scream tore through the darkness like a knife, an infernal horrified wail that deteriorated rapidly into a low frenzied moaning babble. Spike was moving before he realized it, wheeling towards Drusilla's chambers with a speed most athletes would've envied.

It was dark in the room- it looked like the entire bloody building was dark- but Spike could barely make out Drusilla curled in the corner rocking back and forth and hugging her knees, making a disturbing whining noise.

"Dru, love, what's wrong? What is it?"

Drusilla paused and looked up and Spike froze. Her face was a twisted mask of terror and he could see that same soul-tearing horror reflected in her normally blank eyes. She looked more sane than she had in centuries, more sane and yet terrified out of her wits at the same time.

"Kitten.. my Kitten is coming, but he isn't just Kitten anymore! Kitten woke up the Dragon and now it's so angry, all blue and gold and thunder! _The Dragon is coming, Spikey!" _Drusilla screamed. _"I can see into the Crystal Eye! The Glorious One tears the Veil asunder in her madness and the Three awaken! The Shield falls in shards and Law, Chaos and Time rise once again against the Elder Darkness! Worlds die and the stars writhe and boil in their struggle! Blood and death devour the stars and there is nothing! Nothing!"_

Drusilla sobbed and screamed again. _"There is nothing! My stars scream and fall silent! Blood drowns the realms! Blood and darkness!"_

I#I#I#I#I

The echoes of the first roar hadn't died before the creature moved far faster than anything it's size had right to, kneeling down on muscular digigrade legs tipped with vicious triple talons nearly the length of a human forearm. Vast scale-covered wings unfolded with a sharp leathery crack, jagged tendrils of lightning creeping across the taut membrane. Jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth opened wide in a keening cry like tearing steel- and then the wings came down with a deep _boom _that sent clouds of stinging vampire dust swirling through the air as the creature itself turned into a blur of motion. Splinters of wood flew, ebony black claws tearing through the floor and leaving long jagged triple gouges in the woodwork. In one flash, before anyone could react, it slammed into one of the vampires with a bloodcurdling snarl like a prolonged roll of thunder, the two going down in a snarling, rolling mass of flailing limbs. A scream that ended abruptly in a sick _crunch _of shattering bone and a _whoomph _of disintegrating vampire rang out, the creature ending up perching on the floor. It raised its head, its jaws stained with a black mixture of blood and vampire dust, and growled again, its eyes blazing a terrifying crimson glow.

Every movement it made exuded a sense of _danger, _an unnamed, undefined feeling of dread, an aura of primal malice smoldering beneath the surface. Willow could feel – the part of her that wasn't screaming _run, hide, get away _again and again could – a constant tingle and surge in the very air around her, like someone had been casting a spell at the very moment in the same room but amplified a dozenfold. It felt like her hair was squirming on its own from the charge like a demented medusa of some sort, tiny arcs of static snapping and crackling in it. She could _sense_ how the mere presence of the- the _thing _that had been his best friend distorted and tore at the weave of magic around it, could nearly _see _the bonds of alien magic and power that reached out from it and _into_ it twisting, coiling and weaving together like the tentacles Xander had described to her-

A screech she couldn't begin to describe rose, a hoarse, vibrating, tearing sound part scream part roar that slammed into her with nearly a physical force. She couldn't help it; as the creature pounced again she clapped her hands to her ears and screamed with it. She felt the sound like a pair of ice picks driven through both her eardrums as the creature _flickered _and slammed directly into a group of five vampires, the rest shaking off their shock and taking their chance to flee the scene. Talons and fangs flashed, the creature towering easily over the vampires with a muscular frame of nearly ten feet. Kicks and punches thudded into crystalline scales and armored bone with little to no effect until one of the vampires managed to slash at the fleshy underside of a wing with their lengthened claws- a sharp electric crackle rang out, a jet of blue-white sparks like miniature lightning striking the vampire and making it stumble backwards with a yelp- and the creature emitted an enraged screech and executed an odd half-turn, the muscular tail swiping horizontally the feet from underneath one vampire with bone-crushing force- Willow could hear a sick _crack _of breaking bone and a pained scream over the ringing of her ears- and the black stinger housed in the tip rose up with the movement and skewered the offending vampire through the chest. It had just enough time to blink stupidly and look down before it exploded into a cloud of dust.

Her eyes were drawn to the nasty rent in the center of the creature's left wing. Bright red blood dripped along the smooth surface, the thick opaque liquid crackling with energy as arcs of lightning crept and squirmed along the blood and the wound, the hole in the membrane rapidly shrinking and reknitting itself. The creature pivoted around on a single taloned leg with a motion far too graceful for anything even near its size, razor-sharp talons _ripping, tearing, slashing_ and one of the remaining vampires detonated in a burst of ashes and necromantic energies – the presence of the creature had supercharged her own power so that for a brief moment, she could actually _see_ the dark magic and demonic essence that kept the vampire animated flicker and fade as the grainy dust spread.

_By the Goddess, so much power.._

Cloven hands _reached, seized_- A single razor-taloned claw grasped the ankle of the vampire with the broken leg- and yanked the vampire easily off the ground. It spat and cursed right until the creature took a mighty swing, the vampire in its grasp swinging like a rag doll and smashing into a bookcase with a sick meaty crash and a howl of pain. Tomes and scrolls flew. A keening roar, another swing, and vampire met dust-covered floor with a second crash and scream. The third swing finally knocked the bookcase over with a loud crash, the vampire now silent and limp.

The last remaining vampire had bolted towards the exit when the creature snarled, spun and _hurled_ the unconscious vampire at his fleeing comrade. Both went down in a cursing, flailing tangle of limbs. The creature hissed at the two.. and then it suddenly made a strange rumbling sound, a deep thrumming noise like distant thunder that rose rapidly in strength and volume. Willow could feel a sudden surge of energy in the air around the beast-

Blue-white light ignited in the maw, eyes and nostrils of the creature, crackled across the scales of its face and sparked between its ivory horns. There was a deep _boom _like a muffled thunderclap as the jaws of the creature snapped wide open.. and the light in its maw _leaped_ outwards in a blinding, crackling lance like a horizontal bolt of lightning that left her blinking away afterimages from her eyes. The vampires exploded into a cloud of dust and blue-white sparks, the coruscating blast surging through the air where they had been but moments ago and blasting a cracked, scorched pit into the wall, fragments of wood and masonry zinging through the air.

Twin streams of acrid white smoke billowing from its nostrils, arcs of leftover energy snapping and crackling across its maw the creature spread its wings wide, the wind churning a vortex of thin gray vampire dust around it as it threw its head back and unleashed a deep, tearing victory roar. Lightning flashed overhead in sync with it, a deafening roll of thunder shaking the floor beneath them.

A series of leathery shuffling sounds and dry bony clacks rang out as the creature's wings folded unto its shoulders like a grotesque cape. It turned, sniffed the air.. and fixed a golden stare upon Willow, the slit pupils of its eyes glowing a dim, soft crimson light.

_"No.."_

It turned towards her, thin wisps of smoke rising from its nostrils, its back hunched over from the sheer mass of its powerful draconic wings caped against its broad shoulders, curved ebony talons scraping against the hardwood floor.

_"Please, no.."_

She scuttled backwards, away from the creature even as it took a fluid step towards her, balancing easily upon its triplets of razored claws. Flickering lights shone eerily upon the shell of bone covering its chest.

_"Xander.."_

Willow had her back pressed into the wall, squeezing against it like she was trying to slip through it like on that fateful Halloween night. A winged shadow seemed to block all the light from her view as the creature stalked towards her, finally kneeling down right next to her. She could feel the air around it tingle with a barely pent-up charge, like standing right next to a live converter, could hear a low thrumming sound from somewhere within its armored chest..

_"..don't.."_

A three-fingered hand the size of a frying pan enveloped her shoulder, a furious tingling sensation spreading through her skin at the point of contact, her hair squirming and twitching with static. She could feel four clawtips like needlepoints against her skin, just hard enough to push through her clothes but not quite enough to draw blood. She made a nonintelligent squeal in her throat and flinched but managed to bite back the scream as a reptilian snout filled her vision. Its nostrils flared, a faint blue-white light igniting in them with a soft crackle, and the stench of death, ozone and a sour reptilian smell hit her like a physical blow. She could feel the tears running down her cheeks as it leaned even closer to her, the tip of its azure-scaled snout inches away from her face. She could almost feel the rows of ivory fangs upon her, paralyzed by the intense gaze like polished gold upon her..

_Snnfffhh.. Snnfffhh.._

_Rrriuuwwrrrr?_

_Schlluupp_

Something long, warm and moist ran across her cheek and she screamed, shivered and knew no more.

I#I#I#I#I

**..And that's it for today, folks. Again, sorry for the long delay. Contrary to popular belief, I _do_ have a life outside the Internet. Busy, busy, busy..**

**Review Responses:**

**Dogbertcarroll: **Thank you very much. I've always enjoyed writing descriptive, detailed text; if properly done, it adds to the mood and makes the story that much immersing. That, and I get a kick out of it :grin:. As for the pairing, we'll have to see what will happen.. I never plan for any specific pairings or such, I just write and see where the path takes to.

**M. Kearney: **:evil laughter: I'm the Dungeon Master for our resident Dungeons and Dragons game, evil is in the job description.. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, and I'm so very sorry you had to wait this long (over 6 months, wrath of the Dragon Lord!)

**Covered in blood'n gore: **Glad you liked it. The PTB may not exactly appreciate Xander's new abilities but at the moment they'll be hard-pressed to take any action against one under the protection of one of the Three Elders.. but then again, considering the amount of plotting and scheming going on with the Powers things may get even more interesting for Xander in the near future.

**Kenneth: **Glad to hear that, I'm doing my best to keep you people satisfied!

**War90: **Thank you!

**Aleh: **:pages through an old school textbook:shrugs:tosses said book over shoulder: Teaches me not to believe everything they write. I'll keep that in mind.

**RobClark: **Glad to see you like this journey, hope I'll be seeing you occasionally along the path. Thank you very much.

**Candy: **I'm happy to see you've enjoyed this (at least up to now). Thanks!

**Madrikor: **Not that soon, unfortunately, but I hope you enjoyed this..

**The Mad Dragon: **:chuckle: Among other things.. But on the pro side, he's got his own can opener and other assorted ripping/cutting/slashing/tearing tools handy from now on..

**Dr Gero: **I'm glad to see you like this story, and even more glad to see you're interested in my original characters. Yes, the plaguelord really is dead, and you might learn more as soon as I figure out the stats for the fiend (God, my players _will _hate me after a few sessions).. I hope you like what I've cooked up for now, and I'll always be happy to answer your questions!

**DaBear: **:snicker: Was that a Gargoyles reference? Glad you like it!

**Kiseki no Tenshi: **Glad you like it!

**WBH21C: **Thank you very much!

**Still waiting: **I'm really very sorry for the overly long wait. I'm actually surprised no-one has flamed me yet.

**Scythe195: **I'm glad you think so! Thank you!

**Bobboky: **Thank you!

**Speaker4thesilent: **Thank you! I will try!

**Suzuka Blade: **Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it:offers the little dragon a shoulder to perch on and a scrap of ham: I've always wanted one of these little guys. Now let's see if I can hang onto my eyebrows with him..

**Judah: **Already personally answered this one; it's reviews like this that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, seeing that people reading this are actually paying attention to the little details. Thank you again!

**Ruasinner: **I'm glad to see you like it, and I'm really sorry for the overly long wait.

**Caelistes: **'Scary' would be a good word to describe the Dragon Elder :grin: Thank you very much!

**Nighetray: **Keepin' it comin'! Thanks!

**APS: **I'm trying! Thank you very much!

**Again, thank you very much for all the time you've taken in reading this. I'm really glad to see even one of you actually likes my work, let alone all the different people who have encouraged me to keep writing this story. I couldn't do it without you people.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Azure Halloween**

**Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.**

**Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.**

**Edit 9/7/07: Fixed a typo in paragraph 4. No such word as 'rannshar', should've been a space there.  
**

**Chapter 10**

_Cold._

_Wet._

_Hungry._

Skulking between the strange nest-dwellings, talons slipping and sticking on the odd _stone-yet-not-stone_, thick heavy rain falling and dripping off azure scales that were slick with the skin with cold, the changed one voiced his ire and confusion with a low thrumming growl directed to no-one in particular. Everything in this place smelled _wrong,_ felt _strange-different-alien.._ and yet so _familiar. _Even the wind smelled of _dust-smoke-poison, _the _clear-fresh-cool _of rainwater bringing it a tang of _bitter-burn-poison_ with it, a hint of _black-brass-burn-bile __**-**__**fisth- **_that made his scales itch and burn uncomfortably with every droplet flowing along the living crystal. And the _taint-_ this place was not _right. Wrongness_ surrounded him, surged in the air, pulsed within the earth and flowed from the stones- it was a smell that wasn't a smell, a stench of _evil-darkness-death-decay-taint_ that he couldn't smell with his snout but with his _spirit._

_Pain_ lanced suddenly from between his eyes, _burn-claw-slash-stab _that seared and cut its way throughout every fiber of his body from the tip of his horns to the pads of his feet. Claws slid and faltered, wings twitched and tail flexed as he swayed-

-Four obsidian talons sunk into stone with a soft _crunch _before he could fall. He snarled weakly to himself, a low, pulsing purr like distant thunder. It _hurt _to _think,_ to _remember, _a dissonant stream of shattered images and meaningless words, trackless scents and broken memories that _stung _and _burned, _flashes of _scream-death-fire-darkness-deathless-blood-rage-pain-war _tearing and clawing at his mind-

-of the crimson female. Remembering her _hurt_ still but less than the sensations of mindless rage. She was _familiar, _she was _important_, she was _**shar'rann, zhoda'chroo'rann, orentach'rann, **__**shar'orentach'zhoda'chroo'rann,**__ clan-sister, __**Dal'senn'rann,**__ Little Tree- _she smelled of _spicy-brown-bark, little-sweet-red-berries, _of _blood-sweat-terror-flee-or-__**die**__-_

_**Ner!**_

Taloned feet faltered, slipped, found purchase. His tail dragged and wings drooped from the pain as he trudged forward.

Remembering _her_ made him _angry_, black fire pulling him back into the mindless, senseless _rage, _and it _hurt, _the animal _fury-_ he'd been _angry,_ so _angry.. _she hadn't moved and the dust of the _dead-that-walk_ had stung his eyes and nose and then came the screaming blue-white metal beasts with flashing blue and red lights that _hurt_ his eyes- and then the pale things that made squeaky noises and the blinding white lights and the black metal things that smelled of _red-gold-sulfur-blood-death _that made loud noises and _stung- _and she was **his**_shar'orentach'zhoda'chroo'rann _and she was _hurt _and he was _hurt _and he'd been so _angry-_

Black claws slid along smooth creamy yellow bone plates and caught on splintered cracks that still faintly seeped gleaming red-black blood that made faint crackling noises- and he was _hurt, _he was _cold, _he was _wet- _and _hungry. _So _hungry._ But there was no smell of _prey _here, nothing he could eat, no _stalk-hunt-pounce-__**feed-**_

_Light. Fire. __**Warmth.**_

A thin crack in the wood of one of the nest-dwellings spilled red-gold light. Black slit pupils narrowed, a single golden eye pressed to the crack- there were three _things _inside the nest-dwelling, small flabby pale things that made squeaking noises at each other and smelled of _soot-rot-tar- _and there was _fire _inside, tiny pieces of crackling wood and scraps that shed _light _and _warmth-_

Black talons flexed, _struck, __**pulled-**_ and rot-softened wood and rusting metal cracked and screeched, the little flabby things screaming and squeaking, _running _as he crawled in through the hole he had made. He bared fangs and gave a low snarl and the pale things _squeaked _and were gone.

_Fire. Warmth. __**Mine.**_

Hunching over the tiny flames, leathery wings unfolded with a thick shuffling noise, sheltered the little bonfire from the draft as the horned head bowed, translucent nictitating membranes sliding over golden eyes moments before more normal eyelids fluttered shut.

_Hurt._

_Warm._

_Dry._

_Sleepy._

_Still hungry.._

I#I#I#I#I

_Beep.. Beep.. Beep.._

Slowly, a persistent, high-pitched beeping penetrated the mass of darkness around her and pervaded her consciousness. Waking up, following that beeping like she would a safety rope, felt like she was trying to reach the surface of a thick, black and cold marsh; every single stroke was a struggle and all through the entire process she wasn't even entirely sure if she was going in the right direction.

Finally, her eyelids felt like they were made of solid lead as she opened them. Bright light- _too bright!- _made her eyes water and she made a low moaning noise.

"Willow?"

A darker blur appeared in the center of her field of vision. As it slowly resolved into the face of an older, worried-looking man with glasses she became aware of a stinging sensation in the crook of her right elbow, several _something_-s stuck to the skin of her chest and the heavy, bitter chemical tang of antiseptics in the air. The steady beeping to the rhythm of her heartbeat completed the image.

"Giles?"

'Giles' was what she tried to say but her throat was dry and her tongue stuck to the roof of her throat. A sound that was a pretty equal mixture between 'Glshh' and a throaty croak issued.

"Do you need water?"

She nodded gratefully before wincing at the odd dizzy sensation she got after moving her head too fast. Moments later she was handed a translucent plastic cup complete with a plastic straw. After a second's awkward pause Giles helped her up into a half-sitting position.

A few careful sips later – at least the water was clear, cool and refreshing- she felt she was ready to try talking again.

"Giles? Why.. Why are we in the hospital?"

The Watcher-slash-librarian flinched, then took his glasses off and began to clean them as he spoke.

"The police found us, unconscious and with various degrees of injury, shortly after the.. attack on the library." The word 'vampire' didn't need to be spoken. "Oz and I were diagnosed with mild concussions and were released shortly. You.. " -the glasses found their way back onto his nose- "you were in a severe state of shock, unconscious. We've been watching over you ever since."

Something in Giles' expression made little warning bells come on inside her mind. "'We?' How- how long have I been here?"

Glasses off, polish, glasses on. "Willow.. you've been unconscious for the last five days. And.. 'we' refers to.. myself, Oz and Cordelia.."

Her mouth ran dry again, but this time the water didn't seem to be helping.

"Willow.. God, I don't even know where to _begin.. _Kendra's in this very hospital as well, in the critical ward.. the doctors here aren't sure if she's going to make it. I think she was nearly drained but something distracted the vampire before it could finish what it started."

Willow thought she had seen a flash of the dark-skinned Slayer not minutes before.. a mental flash of azure and sapphire blue scales interrupted that thought.

_If __**that**__ hadn't been enough to distract a vampire __**nothing**__ was, _she thought with a shiver.

"Are you all right, Willow?"

She forced herself to nod. "As good as can be expected. Breathing is always a plus. What about.."

Giles coughed. "Buffy.. Buffy's gone into hiding. But Xander.. no-one's seen him since the attack. Under the circumstances I can't say if I'm sure that's a bad thing."

Willow blinked. "Wait, what was that supposed to mean?"

A hard glint appeared in Giles' eyes. "Principal Snyder" -he spat out the name like it was a curse- "has, regardless of my efforts to the contrary, managed to convince the Sunnydale Police Department that it was Buffy, or Xander, or both of them that wrecked the library and nearly killed Kendra.. They're both wanted for questioning."

Her eyes bulged. "Snyder _what?!"_

Giles nodded soberly. "Buffy has gone into hiding, trying to avoid the police while attempting to locate Angelus' true headquarters.. which is a difficult task, to say the least. I.. I would like to think that Alexander has gone into hiding as well but.. I.. we found his.. weapon and clothes at the library, Willow, before the police did. His clothes.. Willow, they were-"

The wet rip of flesh tearing and regrowing, cloth ripping and the crack of bones shattering and reforming rang through her mind and she flinched.

"..they were torn apart.." she whispered.

"How did- Willow, did you see what happened?"

"..he left the Stormhammer?"

Giles blinked. "He called it that? Yes, he did, if he left it at his own volition.. Willow, if you saw what happened, it's vital that you tell me all you know. _Something_ destroyed or drove off all those vampires and I seriously doubt it was Alexander alone."

Willow choked back a bitter laugh. She wasn't exactly sure that if she began to laugh or cry she could stop.

"Would that I could tell you, Giles.. but it's not my secret to tell, I'm bound. But it _was _Xander that destroyed those vampires.. and wherever he is, he isn't one. He's alive.. I _know _he is. He _has _to be."

Giles gave her a long, hard stare and opened his mouth like he was going to say something but then his coat pocket beeped. He froze, then blinked.

"Excuse me.. I'll be right outside, Willow."

Willow gave his retreating back a glance, then fell back onto the bed. Flashes of golden eyes and crackling lightning kept running through her mind's eye.

"Oh, Xander.." she whispered, feeling a hot wetness on her cheeks, "..what happened to you..?"

I#I#I#I#I

_Snap._

Eyelids covered with a thin layer of crystalline azure scales flashed open, baring metallic golden eyes with black slit pupils. A flare of dim crimson light ignited deep within, the pupils narrowing until they were mere blazing vertical slits against fierce gold.

_Ghuurrrrr.._

Muscular jaws parted, baring rows upon rows of razor-sharp ivory fangs in a low snarl. A ripple of scale-covered muscle and sinew caped azure wings against sturdy muscle and bone. Finlike ears unfolded, nostrils flaring to scent the cold air.

Footsteps. No breath, no heartbeat. The smell of death, blood, and the dark, cold soil.

_Darkness._

"D'ya think there's something here?"

Squeaking sounds, again with that strange feeling of both _familiar _and _alien._ Faint arcs of blue-white energy snapped and crackled around ivory white fangs and horns.

"Govornans are cowards. Could've been just about anything that scared them off."

Footsteps, coming closer.

"Thought they said whatever it was was big?"

Snort.

"_Everything_ looks big when you're two feet tall."

_Movement _from the other side of the nest-dwelling; razorblack talons scraped the floor, firm muscles coiling, charging to launch seven hundred pounds of scale-covered death clear across the room.

"I mean, c'mon, if you're two feet tall even a _goblin_ looks pretty scary, doesn't it? I don't think we're going to find _anything _in this hell.. hole.. oh _cr-"_

_GhrrRRAAAHHHHRRRLLLL!!!_

I#I#I#I#I

_What a mess.._

Wind rustled loose pages from ancient, nearly irreplaceable books, scrolls and tomes, moaning with a nearly mournful tone in windows haphazardly covered in tarpaulin. A thick layer of vampiric ashes still covered the hardwood floor, disturbed in places by shoe- and bootprints and blown smooth in others by the swirling air currents. Tatters of yellow tape, wood fragments, scraps of cloth and shards of glass littered the dust-covered floor. In places the ashes were stained a deeper red-brown-black. The chalk-drawn patterns of the magic circle they had taken several hours to draw was only barely visible, scuffed and covered in dust; and in the center of the room, a fifteen-foot circle of hardwood floor was nearly completely clear of dust, the wood in the circle scorched and pitted and the very center scarred and torn like someone had taken an axe to it.

Something _crunched _underfoot when she moved. A leather-bound tome, lying open with its pages downwards, an invaluable repository dating back from the 17th century. The age-hardened leather of the cover was scuffed and cracked, and when she picked it up the yellowed pages were scuffed with dust, dirt and blood, illegible and some hanging nearly loose from the spine.

_Useless, _she thought. _So much lost.. for what?_

"Somehow I knew I'd find you here, Willow."

Her mind went _eek. _An instinctive flinch sent the ruined tome falling for a split second before she reacted, grasping, missing, and fumbling, resulting in a moment's air-juggle before she actually caught the book.

"Giles!" she squeaked, "Don't sneak up on me!"

The Watcher blinked. "I.. Willow, I've been trying to reach you for a while now. Either that infernal contraption is acting up again or your cell phone's battery has run out again."

Willow blinked once, then fished her cell out of her jeans pocket. A single glance told her the battery was, once again, _very _dead. She blushed and tried to stammer an apology but Giles beat her to it.

"Willow, it's.. I need to talk to you. It's about Kendra."

The grave look the older man had on his face made a weight settle on her heart.

"No.. Is she.. did she.."

"Wha- no, no, the doctors tell me she has stabilized. It's- Willow, I visited her earlier today, and she woke up for a minute. It wasn't much, but.." the Watcher glanced downwards, then took a double-take, his eyes narrowing.

"Kendra told me.. that she saw something happen to Xander. I think.. Willow, I think there's something you should tell me."

Willow looked down at her feet, where the face-down book had covered a footprint like that of a bird of some kind, an imprint of a paw with three long toes and narrow talons, the longest of which measured at least eight inches. She couldn't help herself. She began to cry, falling tears mixing with dried blood and vampire dust.

She didn't remember moving but she found herself sobbing against Giles' shoulder, the arms of the bewildered Watcher around her in a comforting gesture.

"Made me swear.." she sobbed. "Couldn't tell you.. Swore by the love of the Goddess.. wouldn't let you hurt him.."

"Shh, Willow" Giles told her in a low voice, "We can help him.. if you tell me what happened. All of it."

"He.. He's still Xander, I know it.. just.. he's different now, has been for months, it just.. I think the vampire made him complete it .. _finish _it faster.."

"Tell me everything you can, Willow" Giles prodded gently.

And she did, sniffing and sobbing all the time until the Watcher's shoulder was wet with tears.

I#I#I#I#I

"..And he destroyed those vampires, didn't he?"

"He did" she sniffed. "Tore them.. tore them apart like they were _paper."_

"Who tore what apart, now?"

A familiar male voice sent a chill through her spine. Suddenly Willow found herself standing behind the shoulder of a tense Watcher, a vial of holy water clutched in Giles' hand so hard his knuckles were turning white.

A tall, blonde figure stepped out from the shadows near the library's back exit, glancing around with a smirk.

"Really did a number on the place, didn't they?"

"_Spike" _Giles spat out. "What are _you _doing here?"

"Looking for the Slayer, actually" the blonde vampire responded jovially. "Got some business to discuss.. now put that thing away, if I wanted you two dead we wouldn't be talking now, would we?"

Giles glared. "You'll excuse me if I'm not convinced, William."

The vampire rolled his eyes. "The one thing I'm actually doing something _for _you blokes, and _this _is the thanks I get?"

"_For _us?" Willow snapped. "_You _did this!"

"You _wound _me" Spike drawled back. "For the record, _I_ had nothing to do with this.. not that I had anything against it, mind you, luv.. this was entirely the Poof's idea. Now are you going to listen to me or are we just gonna stand here trading insults?"

"What are you going _on _about?" Giles growled.

Spike grinned. "Why, the Great Poof's home lair, of course!"

Willow blinked. "See now.. I don't get it. You're a vampire, shouldn't you be, y'know, trying to kill us and not.. well, _help _us? Not that I'm complaining, no" she squeaked when Spike glared at her. "Helping is good, we all like helping, you know.."

"She has a point, Spike" Giles hissed at the vampire.

"Look, you two" Spike snapped back, "Yes, I'm a vampire, and I wanna take over the world one bite at a time. All vampires do. Now, the Poofmeister's going to feed this world to that Acathla bloke. Now, personally I don't care what happens to you but I sure as bloody Hell am _not_ interested in ruling over a chunk of bloody demon _crap. _Look, just listen to me for a moment and I'll leave you alone, all right? I'll pick up Dru and then none of you needs to see _either _of us again."

A long pause. Spike tried a friendly smile largely ruined by his fangs.

"All right," Giles finally spoke in a cold, low voice, "_talk."_

I#I#I#I#I

_Ghhrrrrrrrr.._

_Pathetic._

A long, muscular tongue slid over rows of ivory white fangs before he spat out a bitter-tasting mixture of gray-brown ashes and coppery red blood.

His wounds were almost entirely healed now, and the rest and lessened pain allowed for partial clarity. Hissing at the remains of the two _wrong-dead-dark _creatures, his talons dug deep into the aged wooden floor.

_Clan _was attacked, he remembered now. He could remember the scent of _clan-sisters, _of _clan-brother.. _the dry dusty scent of _knowledge _and _power _and _clan-elder._ He knew the smell of _clan _and _clanhold_, the taint of _clan-enemy, threat-to-clan, _spilled _clan-blood_..

A deep, rumbling growl vibrated his erstwhile shelter, his wings unfolding partially as _power_ flickered and crackled upon scale, flesh and bone.

He knew the scent of _clan-enemy.. _and that of the _clan-traitor._


	11. Chapter 11

**Azure Halloween**

**Summary: Crossover with something of my own invention Halloween fic. Things will never be the same again for Xander.**

**Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Fox Interactive and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement intended. Anything not recognizable as someone else's work most likely belongs to me. Mitts off.**

**I know, I know. I promised I'd update soon but still took my sweet time getting this written. I'm really sorry for all of you who've actually been waiting for me to get to updating.. Right after I released chapter 10 I immediately wrote the first two sections of this chapter and then seemed to run out of creative juices.. this sat on my hard drive for months until three days ago when I took a new look at it and all just seemed to click into place. The result: nine pages of chapter 11 for all of you. Thank you all.**

**By submitting this file I indirectly spam 71 people, you know who you are. Thank you very much.**

**Chapter 11**

The cold wind made a sound eerily reminiscent of a dying animal as it shrieked and swirled between buildings, big fat droplets of rainwater hammering into wood, metal and tarmac. A flash of lightning overhead was followed by a deep, rumbling roll of thunder that made the glass windowpanes of a sturdy, abandoned brick building vibrate in their moorings.

In the dark, secluded alcove of the building's fire door, partially sheltered from the driving rain, a thin, short and blonde figure pulled her jacket tighter around herself and took a second look at her cellphone, tiny black letters playing across the iridescent green display.

_W, G, C & Oz OK. K in ICU, X unknown. Found A- in old manor, address.._

Buffy looked up across the street, where an aged stone wall separated the tarmac of the sidewalk from a large lot overrun with knee-high grass and foliage. A wrought-iron gate with twisted, spearlike spines decorating the upper edge showed what looked like a formerly stone-paved path winding away between rows of gnarled trees up to a large, abandoned-looking mansion. Flashes of lightning were intermittently reflected in what intact windowpanes she could see. An age-tarnished bronze plaque on the right side of the gate showed the address of the lot, matching the one on her cell.

She gave a last glance at her phone before shrugging and turning it off. Bracing against the driving rain, she strode over the street to the gate. It was made of blackened wrought iron rods bent and curled into decorative patterns, the strongest of them as thick as her thumb. Patches of red-brown rust riddled some of the rods and a strong-looking steel chain that looped through both halves of the gate, the ends wrapping around and bound by a large, sturdily built padlock.

Buffy glanced around her again, sure that no-one was watching her at the moment. Wrapping her fingers around the chain, she gave a half-hearted tug that made the chain rattle eerily but remain intact. Sighing, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and _yanked-_

_Chrrk-creeeEEE-CLANG!_

The chain resisted for a split second before one of the rusted links failed with a creak of tortured metal, the ends of the chain clanking uselessly against the gate. She sighed and pulled the chain off the gate before edging through into the lot, pulling a sharp shortsword from under her cloak with one hand and a stake with the other, the short text message running through her mind.

What exactly had Willow meant, _Xander unknown_ - _avoid the big blue creature?_

I#I#I#I#I

The wind tugged at deep azure and shining cobalt scales with a hundred ethereal fingers, the thick heavy rain drumming into living crystal and sturdy bone with a thousand tiny hammers. The roar of thunder above sent a kiss of _power _and _fury _and _magic_ running across his scales and surging through his veins.

Elongated shafts of curved, hollow yet sturdy bone unfolded to their fullest, the daggerlike plates of razor-sharp hardened bone decorating their tips slashed through the air with instinctive, graceful ease. Thick fleshy membranes stretched between the struts quivered in the wind, every single air current sweeping along the supple inner surface sending a million instinctive calculations of _angle, speed _and _strength _running through his mind, a thousand tiny, instinctive corrections fluttering through the muscle and sinew of his wings every second to achieve that fleeting optimum point between _lift, control _and _thrust_. Air shrieked between wicked talons and curving horns, whispering between scales and hissing against membranous ears as the changed one soared through the maelstrom above the darkened nest-dwellings.

He _knew_ his prey now, an instinctive _pull_ through the _fury_ of the storm and the _taint _of the land below. He could _feel _a slumbering core of darkness below and he _knew_ without a doubt the _clan-traitor _was also near, unaware of the predator hidden within the storm above.

A second blast of thunder painted the world stark black-and-white for a split second, a new nearly euphoric surge of energy roaring through his flesh and mind. The storm fed upon his rage, and his power fed upon the storm, two writhing serpents that devoured each other alive from the tail upwards, a vicious circle that would be broken only in death. Serrated ivory fangs bared in a wild snarl, eyes that gleamed polished gold blazing with _power _and _wrath_, he tucked his wings tightly against his sides and dove into the darkness.

I#I#I#I#I

_Scritch-scritch_

A deep-in-thought Giles suddenly halted in the middle of a step, ears perked.

_Scritch-scritch-scritch_

Frowning, the librarian removed his glasses for a swift polish before placing them back upon his nose. The noise he had heard was faint, but still familiar – but what..?

Moving much more silently than a random observer would've expected from a man his size and age, he approached the source of the sound, a sturdy wooden door coated in a glossy varnish.

_Scritch-scritch_

Brow wrinkled, Giles grabbed the doorknob, twisted it and took a step in, the hinges letting loose a sound that wasn't as much a creak as a scream.

_Schritch-scritch-"Eep!"_

Giles blinked before the sight truly registered in his mind.

"Willow, what on Earth are you doing?"

Tomes and scrolls propped open with small but heavy knick-knacks lay on the hardwood floor around a startled Willow, who was kneeled down among them. A piece of chalk in her hand trembled, her face nearly the same shade of red as her hair.

"Giles! I- I-"

Giles took in the pattern Willow had been drawing onto the floor with the chalk, recognizing the central element easily. He had spent several hours drawing the same thing roughly a week ago, after all.

"..Nevermind the _what_, Willow, what I would truly like to know is _why _did you feel pertinent to draw that thing in my _guestroom _of all places.. without consulting me first?"

The array that had appeared on the floor of his guestroom really was familiar, at least most of it – the central design was the power circle they had used in their attempt to redo the soul curse on Angelus. However, it looked like Willow had been expanding upon it, adding bits and pieces from other similar circles – a foot or so of meticulously drawn eyes, birds and other symbols that looked suspiciously like hieroglyphs circled the original design, those supplanted by another layer of glyphs and sigils that looked like Sumerian, Akkadian and much, much more in a truly mind-bogglingly complex grid. She had apparently been finishing a hexagram – a six-pointed star – around the whole conglomeration when he had interrupted.

"It's – I thought – I wanted to help! I – I – I looked through the ritual but then I realized I couldn't do it alone so I thought I'd seen something in the second Zebethian Codex and then I remembered the binding circle in the Tome of En'Gha so I thought I could combine the two and then.. then.. it just.. _grew_ from there.."

_Grew_ from there would be an appropriate expression, Giles decided while examining the array. A closer examination showed elements from at least eight different ritual circles, painstakingly accurately copied and modified to match up to each other nearly seamlessly – at some points it was difficult to tell where one section began and the other ended. Egyptian melded with ancient Hebrew bled into angular Norse runes and Sumerian arrowhead script..

This just might _work, _he realized.

I#I#I#I#I

Buffy got exactly up to the second stair leading to the porch of the manor before she was ambushed. Her Slayer-sense suddenly _screamed_ at her and she jumped backwards, three darkly clothed figures melting from the shadows.

"Look guys.." one of them whispered in a raspy voice, "..Dinner's served.."

Rough chuckles rang out as they charged at her.. And then her world contained only the vampires, her sword, her stake, herself and the Slayer.

I#I#I#I#I

"Two pairs."

"Color flush, chump."

"Hey, I think I've seen that seven before.. Twice, in fact."

"Are you calling me a cheater?"

"She's just saying you seem _really _lucky tonight, Ned."

Four of the six vampires gathered around the poker table glared at the fifth, who tried to give back a fierce look while not-so-subtly edging backwards on his chair. The last fiddled with her cards for a moment, then sighed and settled her hand on the table.

"Royal flush. Pay up, people."

The vampire with the two pairs narrowed his eyes and took a closer look at the winning hand.

"I thought we weren't supposed to be playing with jokers in the deck?"

"That's on Thursday's, Chad. Now gimme my money."

A collective groan rose around the table as poker chips exchanged owners. Thunder roared overhead, a bright blue-white flash illuminating the skylight while the lonely lamp in the corner flickered and faded for a moment.

"Damned storm.. hasn't really let up in the whole damn week, either. Makes me feel lucky I'm not one of the poor saps patrolling tonight.. It's your turn to deal, Suze."

The blonde vampiress reached her hand out for the deck, then paused for a moment.

"Did you guys hear something?"

Chad rolled his eyes. "It's just the bloody wind. Less with the talking, more with the dealing, OK?"

"Didn't _sound _like the wind to me.."

"Look, this is the Hellmouth, OK? If you can't eat it and it's not trying to kill, eat or enslave you, you'd best ignore it. Now on with the damn cards."

"All right, all right.. Hey, there it was again."

There was a moment's pause as all six vampires tried to listen for anything unusual. Only the sizzle of rain hitting the skylight above, the howling of the wind and the occasional crack of thunder could be heard.

"I don't hear an-"

_Ka-SMASH!_

The skylight exploded inwards, shrapnel of glass and steel filling the air even as the only light of the room detonated with a sharp popping noise and a cascade of iridescent sparks, plunging them room into chaotic darkness. The floor shook with the force of a sudden impact that sent the surprised vampires flying away from the table.

There was a clatter and a groan from the corner. "What.. the.. _hell.._"

Thunder roared above and a flash of lightning revealed that they were not alone any longer. The table had shattered, the cards and poker chips spread every which way as the table legs had buckled underneath a crushing force.. and on the remains a vast, dark shape perched, little more than a horned silhouette in the darkness, water dripping off its form- until what had looked to be a thick cloak unfolded into a pair of batlike wings, revealing a muscular frame covered with scales and plates of bony armor. The apparition growled, a deep rumbling thrum like thunder, narrowed slit eyes blazing with a crimson glow.. and then it tossed its head back and _howled_, a tearing hoarse call of fury and hatred shaking the entire room as it pounced.

Dust and screams filled the night.

I#I#I#I#I

"_We call upon Thee in the Land of the Dead, in search for one of our own lost to us.."_

Seated in the center of the Circle, six smoldering braziers of incense in the tips of the outer hexagram, Willow closed her eyes and allowed the power of the ritual wash over her.

_I will help you, _Giles had said. _I will be your anchor. I will give you my power, and I will pull you out if I must._

"_Lord of the Fallen, tomb-guardian, soul-warden, we beseech Thee, open Thy gates and allow pass the one that seeks Thy audience.."_

A tiny bundle of sensations in the back of her mind pulsed and she thought she could smell a combination of old, hardened leather, lovingly cared for paper and dusty parchment, could feel a warm hand on her shoulder although Giles was well outside the Circle, eyes squeezed shut in concentration.

_Are you ready?_

_Power _coursed through the lines of the Circle, eldritch light surging and pulsing in the runes and glyphs. Willow allowed herself a smile. _Ready as I'll ever be._

This _had _to work. For Buffy, and for Angel and Cordelia, and Oz and Kendra.. For Miss Calendar. And for Xander, her sweet, silly, Xander- shaped friend. He'd trusted her, he'd fought for her, he'd almost _died _for her – and what had rose in his place that terrible night had recognized her, had protected her, she _knew. _The Xander she knew was still there, underneath the armor of bone, muscle and scale, lost, confused..

For _him, _she would _make_ this work.

I#I#I#I#I

The fluorescent tubes overhead made a crackling noise, flickered and went out. An inhuman , piercing shriek tore through the darkness, degenerating into a noise that was half sobs half wails; Spike, startled, inhaled strongly and managed to swallow his cigarette. Technically speaking he didn't breathe but somehow the smoldering stump still succeeded in triggering his coughing reflex, forcing him to spend the next few moments trying to cough up his lungs.

"Dru? Dru!"

He didn't pause to think about the (admittedly useless) wheelchair, he bolted. Spike had never heard Drusilla make a sound like that; sure, whatever she'd seen some time back had scared the Hell out of her, she hadn't even gone out to _hunt_ for crying out loud – but this, it sounded like something was tearing her _apart – _

"_The Dragon is __**here!**__"_

The flickering glow of candles lit the room Drusilla had claimed for herself, most of the opulent furniture still covered in pale drapes and dust. Dru herself was curled on her bed, still shrieking at the top of her lungs –

His eyes locked onto the _thing_ above the head of her bed, a part of Spike's mind wondered who the _bloody_ hell had gotten a pack of crayons to her. Most of the wall above her bed was a strange swirl of all the colors of the rainbow, like a spiral or vortex tapering to a central point directly above the bedhead, a black splotch shaped vaguely like a rounded hourglass that tapered to sharp points – a black splotch that was studded with tiny white points. Something clicked and Spike realized he was staring into a painted eye with an oddly shaped pupil.. a pupil that was a black void filled with stars. The dancing candlelight and its odd shadows gave him an uncomfortable feeling the eye was staring _back _at him.

"_-when you turn they will be gone, whispering their hidden song-"_

"Dru, luv, _snap out of it!"_

Spike made to grab her by the shoulders, but it was like trying to hold onto a sack full of angry cats – she squirmed her way out of his hold without even noticing he was there.

"It's here, and it has brought the Crystal Eye with it! _I gaze into the Abyss and the Guardian gazes into me! _Miss Edith cries tears of blood and pus - _Vision milky, then eyes __**rot – **__My stars cry out to me, but they won't stay still long enough for me to hear them!"_

She paused long enough to draw breath, a long, low rasping noise that made him shudder.

"_The gates to the Halls tear open, and the Blind Ones reach out! Traitors, outcasts, heretics – they claim the Devourer, and Daddy with him! The Sentinel sees all that has been, all that is and all that shall ever be – Everything is __**changing**__, and my Kitten is the center of it all! The storm is rising, and it tears my stars away with it – and the Light, it __**burns so!"**_

Something heavy crashed into something else down the hallway, thunder roared outside as rain whipped into the ornate glass windows – the whole room seemed to shake at the impact.. _Something _screamed, a hoarse tearing shriek that felt like an icepick in his skull, the windowpanes rattling in their moorings. Almost instinctively he had Dru's wrist in a tight grip and was halfway to the door when he realized she had gone deathly quiet.

"_It's here.."_

Something just outside the room snarled.

I#I#I#I#I

"_..Warded by Thy mercy, we pass through the Seven Gates of the Underworld.. We invoke Thee, The One of Eternal Vigil, Guardian of Kings, Judge of the Dead!"_

She could hear Giles chanting to himself across the room, his presence beating in the back of her mind like a second heartbeat as the power of the Circle grew to a soaring crescendo. Faintly glowing mist was rising from the six braziers, each of the glyphs in the hexagram's six triangular points burning their own radiant light. Eldritch light seared across the lines of the Circle – and there was a _rush, _for one moment she was one with the Circle and Giles and the _power _running through all three, and then she was _everything _and _nothing _and all that _was _and _would be _was clear to her- and she was _melting, dissolving _into the Weave, a sentient drop of _power _and _will _and _might-_

Suddenly she could no longer smell the sweet sting of the incense. A warm sensation of sunlight on her skin washed over her, she could hear a sound of flowing water and the scream of birds..

Willow opened her eyes and found herself standing upon a stone pier. A river of blue-green water flowed behind her, sturdy stone pillars pushing up from the depths to support the massive tiled slab of stone she was standing on. Thick reeds on both shores swayed upon the gentle wind, a flock of odd white birds with long legs and curved beaks striding among them. A faint splash sounded from her right ands she spied a short glimpse of a reptilian form with a ridge-covered gray-green-brown scaly hide slipping into the water.

A deep rumble sounded, the pier shaking under her feet- and then the sand just beyond the pier began to shift and churn. As she watched, a massive form of stone rose from the depths from the earth, an Egyptian palace of white stone that pushed up from the red-brown sand, beautiful pillars and engravings of animals and beasts unfamiliar to her decorating the stone surface.

A milder vibration shook the pier and the span of sand between the gray-brown stone of the pier and the entrance to the palace seemed to boil, a path of smooth white stepping stones floating up from the depths flanked by dual rows of seven obelisks.

She looked up to the closed gates the path lead to and felt a reassuring pulse running through her, the mental equivalent of a gentle squeeze on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Giles.."

Her steps made muffled clicking sounds upon the stone path. An odd sense of distortion washed through her, the path between the pier and the palace seeming to stretch in length as she walked across it – but finally, she climbed seven white stone steps to reach the door, a pair of massive stone slabs decorated with engravings and inlays of bronze. Each of the two halves was at least four feet broad and twenty feet high, and if they were half as strong as they looked, they were at least a foot thick.

The moment she reached the top step, a deep, brass clash of a gong of some sort rang from somewhere inside the building and the massive doors began to swivel open towards her. A deep _boom _shook the steps as the two halves finally stopped, the gate fully open to her. Beyond she could see a second gate across a courtyard of stone, seven graceful arcs of white stone outlining the path to the inner doors.

The air inside the courtyard felt much cooler than on the outside. Fountains of crystal-clear water interceded with tastefully designed plots of various plants decorated the area. Again, by the time she reached the first of the seven arcs she felt like she had traveled at least twice the distance it should have taken her to reach the gates.

By the time she passed underneath the fourth arc she heard a grinding noise behind her as the outer doors began to close again. For a moment a flash of irrational fear washed through her – was she going to be _trapped _here? – but once again she could feel Giles giving her courage and she hardened her resolve. Climbing the seven new steps of stone to the inner gates, she stood firm as the gong rang out again and the gates swung open for her.

It was dark inside, the only light in the stone corridor she could've driven a truck through came from massive braziers that sat in alcoves built into the walls. A faint rustling noise rang out and she thought she could see something shifting in the flickering shadows. She ignored it and took her first steps into the corridor that seemed to stretch into eternity. Beautiful engravings of hieroglyphs and scenes of animals, people and gods decorated the walls – for a moment she thought about stopping to examine them but kept heading for the next pair of braziers. As she walked between them Willow was faintly amused and not really surprised to see that there were a total of seven pairs of the things.

The corridor ended into a third set of doors. She stood before the massive slabs of stone, feeling the flow of power through her body and the calming pulse of Giles' presence. Nodding to herself, again she climbed up seven steps of smooth, polished stone; and again, the deep brass ring of a gong pulsed and the doors opened for her.

A massive chamber opened before her, seven pairs of obelisks flanking the path to the back of the chamber, each taller than the last. A raised platform of stone dominated the rear of the chamber, seven great stone steps leading up to it; and on the platform, a massive throne of white stone decorated with gold inlays sat. A pair of huge braziers flanked the great throne, and a pair of large windows in the wall above the throne gave more light into the room.

ENTER, VISITOR, AND COME BEFORE ME SO THAT I MAY SEE YOU.

The voice rang out from the throne, but it seemed to vibrate in the stone around her, as if it came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was a strong, deep bass rumble, full of power, command, and, surprisingly, gentle curiosity.

The flickering shadows cast by the throne had moved oddly to her eyes, but now that she approached the great seat what had seemed to be a part of the shadows there suddenly solidified into form.

_Big, _was Willow's first impression. _Big and black._

_Black was the color ancient Egyptians associated with death and purity, _she remembered Giles' voice telling her long ago.

A massive figure sat upon the throne, a form like carved obsidian against the white and gold of the seat. A basically male humanoid body, bare-chested and hairless, their lower body covered by a kilt that gleamed pure white. His skin was deep glossy black, like polished black marble, arm- and wristbands of gold glittering against the deep ebony of his skin. The massive hands that rested upon the carved stone heads of the throne's armrests appeared strong yet surprisingly delicate, otherwise Human but for the slightly elongated and oddly curved fingernails. One of the great hands held a scepter of gold decorated with azure and crimson gems, and the other grasped a short rod tipped with an ankh carved from shiny blue stone. The figure's bare feet also were otherwise Human in appearance except for the nearly clawlike nails- but the face..

Anubis regarded her with a regal expression upon a jackal's face, the very tips of razor-sharp ivory fangs faintly showing from a long, narrow muzzle. A pair of long, slender doglike ears stood up from the top of his ebony black head, a neat mane of silky black hair falling to his shoulders.. but the eyes, they shone bright gentle blue against the deep ebony of his face, eyes that seemed so ancient and yet so watchful and kind at the same time.

AH, YOU ARE ONE OF **HERS. **IT HAS BEEN CENTURIES SINCE ONE OF YOUR KIND WALKED THESE HALLS IN SEARCH OF ME. WHAT IS YOUR NAME, CHILD?

_When dealing with the Powers beyond, be courteous, be firm, and above all be honest._

Closing her eyes, Willow dipped her head down and courtsied.

"I.. I am Willow Rosenberg, my Lord."

HAVE YOU COME SEEKING FOR THE WISDOM OF THE AFTERLIFE, OR THE POWER OVER LIFE AND DEATH? HAVE YOU COME SEEKING FOR THE SECRETS OF IMMORTALITY?

"None of those, my Lord."

A low rumbling noise rang out, the deity's manifestation tilting his head in a curious movement, his eyes glittering deep azure at her.

THAT IS GOOD, FOR NONE OF THOSE AR MEANT FOR THE SOULS OF MORTALS TO ENDURE. TELL ME, WHY HAVE YOU COME HERE, YOUNG WILLOW, IF NOT FOR KNOWLEDGE FORBIDDEN TO YOUR KIND?

Her mouth felt dry, waver of gentle power pulsing over her. Swallowing seemed to help for a moment.

"I have come to barter for a soul, my Lord."

The light darkened for a second, a deep sonorous rumble coming from the figure. Deep blue eyes – eyes that seemed to glow faintly with their own inner light- narrowed at her.

EXPLAIN.

She took a deep breath. For a second she thought she was going to panic and start babbling but then she felt a new pulse of reassurance form the Giles presence and calmed herself down.

"Centuries ago, in the land of the living, a nobleman was slain by a demon – and in his place, another demon rose. The demon spirit took over his body, expelling his spirit and leaving the _ka _no place to wander upon the lands of mortal men."

A low displeased rumble. SUCH CREATURES ARE KNOWN TO ME.

"Clad in the body of the nobleman, the demon wreaked havoc upon our world for centuries, slaying men, women and children where it pleased – until a mortal mage cursed it, calling back the soul of the nobleman from Your realm and binding it back into the body to do combat with the demon. Aware of all the foul deeds of the demon within him, this nobleman – for the presence of the demon within made him immortal – labored thereafter to rectify what he felt were his misdeeds."

GO ON.

"The binding was not perfect, my Lord. Sure the knowledge of the demon would be eternal torture for the nobleman, the mage bound the curse with a clause – that a moment of ultimate happiness would break the curse and release the soul of the nobleman."

Silence. Willow risked a glance into those azure eyes, but was forced to avert her eyes and take a deep breath before she felt she could continue.

"That moment of happiness came to him two months ago, my Lord, and now the demon called Angelus has began to kill again. He.. he has found something called Acathla-"

A sudden rumble shook the floor beneath her. Dust spiraled gently down from the ceiling – and the avatar of Anubis lifted the heavy scepter in his hand, fangs bared.

THE DEVOURER?

_Devourer?, _she wondered for a second, but then she found her voice again.

"A great demon, my Lord – one who has the power to consume the world with his inhalation-"

THAT ONE WAS LOST FOR AEONS. MANY THOUGHT HIM DESTROYED. **I **THOUGHT HIM DESTROYED.

"Angelus has found him, my Lord, trapped within a shell of stone – and he is looking for a way to release him. That is why I have come seeking for a boon from You."

Closing her eyes, she dropped down onto her knees and pressed her forehead against the cool stone floor.

" I.. I have come to ask that You relinquish the soul of the nobleman to do battle with Angelus once more, my Lord."

A deep silence filled the room for a moment, then the floor shuddered beneath her, a _thoom _that rattled her bones all the way from her legs to her _teeth_. A second shudder made small cascades of dust fall from the ceiling, she could feel the sudden absence of light on her skin and she looked up- and up and _up.._

More than twenty feet of obsidian flesh towered over her, the massive bulk of Anubis blocking most of the light from her sight. His arms were crossed on his chest, still holding the scepter and the ankh, and the expression on his alien features was completely unreadable.

WHAT YOU ASK FOR GOES COMPLETELY AGAINST THE NATURAL CYCLE OF SOULS, YOUNG ONE.

Her mouth was suddenly completely dry. The aura of gentle energy she had felt had hardened into something nearly like steel.

"I.. I am aware of that, my Lord."

HOWEVER.. I CAN SENSE YOU SPEAK THE TRUTH. ACATHLA THE DEVOURER IS A BEING THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE COME TO BEING.

She blinked. "My Lord..?"

OPEN YOUR MIND, YOUNG MAGE, AND ALLOW ME TO SEE THE SOUL YOU SEARCH FOR.

His azure eyes gleamed with their own inner radiance – and then she was felt like she was submerged in an ocean of black water studded with motes of brilliant azure, and the sea plucked at her thoughts and memories-

As suddenly as it had began in ended, and she came to kneeled upon the stone floor, her temples pounding and the feeling of Giles a frenzied strobe in the back of her mind.

_That- that was.. I'm OK, Giles. I think.._

A strange rumbling noise filled the room. Willow looked up and stifled a gasp.

The drastically different facial configuration of the Avatar had kept her from seeing the normal nuances of emotions she had come to expect in conversation – but now.. for the first and probably last time in her life she had the opportunity to see something of deific power completely dumbfounded.

…THE SOUL YOU SEEK.. IS NO LONGER UNDER MY PROTECTION. IT IS NOT IN MY HALLS. I CANNOT GRANT YOUR REQUEST, YOUNG WILLOW, AND FOR THAT I AM SORRY.

She blinked. "I, ah, what- you.. You don't have it.. my Lord?"

I AM BUT ONE OF MANY WHO SAFEGUARD THE SOULS OF THE DEAD, YOUNG ONE. EVEN THE SOULS THAT ARE IN MY HALLS HAVE THEIR OWN TIME – AND WHEN THEIR TIME COMES, THEY GO INTO THE PROTECTION OF.. ANOTHER.

Her mind was a whirling jumble, the word _failure _echoing in her ears as she fought back bitter tears.

"Is.. My Lord, is there.. is there any way to reach that soul?"

His azure eyes seemed to weigh her for a moment.

THERE MAY BE. I KNOW WHO HAS THE SOUL YOU SEEK.

She swallowed. "Then.. Can you take me to them, my Lord?"

A deep, soft pulsing rumble made the floor under her vibrate slightly, and Anubis raised the cerulean ankh in his hand.

THAT I CAN DO, YOUNG ONE. GO WITH MY BLESSINGS.

The gleaming, engraved surface of the ankh covered her field of vision.. then the ankh touched her forehead gently and her world collapsed into a whirling maelstrom of energy.

I#I#I#I#I

**End Chapter 11**

**Thank You for Reading!**


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